Saiyan Crossroads
by Cell's Twin Sister Celita
Summary: Formerly titled `Meet the Saiyans'. Here's where everything begins to get wild. Our favorite Mewtwo troop and the Z warriors kick Team Rocket's butt! Basically a Pokemon/Dragonball Z crossover.
1. Meet The Z Posse! Cell Has Amnesia! Vege...

Here's where we enter the world of Dragonball Z. I don't own anything except the characters I made up. Be prepared for rampant OOC-ness.  
  
Meet the Saiyans  
  
Out by the Washington Monument and the Reflecting Pool, Shade pointed to a tree several hundred meters away and said, "You see that tree? Watch me hit it." He took up a wide-legged stance and cupped his paws by his side, gathering a ball of blue energy. Mewthree exclaimed, "Jeez! You're still into that stuff?" Shade gave a big grin and said, "Oh, I've always wanted to do this. KAAAAAMEEEEEHAAAAAMEEEEEHAAAAA!" The last syllable was shouted as he brought his cupped paws forward. The ball of blue energy became a massive blue beam that blasted forth from his paws to incinerate the tree. Mewtwo exclaimed, (Wow! Where did you learn that?) Shade smirked and replied, "Old TV show from when I was really little. I call it The Wave." Mewthree interrupted, "I swear, you can be so lame sometimes." Shade replied, "You're just jealous, aren't you?" She growled, "Jealous of you? Don't make me laugh, twerp!" He cut in, "Don't call me a twerp." Mewthree taunted, "Twerp, twerp, twerp, twerp, twerp, twerp…" Mewtwo stepped between them, smacked his face, emitted an exasperated psychic groan and said, (Yep, you two are most definitely related.) Shade turned to face Mewthree, their dispute already forgotten, and said, "You know, this is the culmination of my childhood dreams. I wished I could be one of the crew. And just look at me now. Look at all the 'Twos. We have tails, we can fly, we can use The Wave, we have inner energy…" Mewthree replied, "I'll second that. Looks like that great dying race lives on…in us. Though we may be 'Twos, there shall someday be those among us known as Saiyans." Mewtwo cut in, (Calling us Saiyans sounds a whole heck of a lot better than just calling us 'Twos.) Turning from them, he sent in a loud psychic voice, (There's been a name change! The name 'Two sounds so lame, doesn't it? I knew you all agreed. From now on, we are Saiyans!) Raising a paw high in the air, he shouted, (What are we called?) At that exact same moment, Shade and Mewthree joined their minds together as one to project to the huge surrounding crowd of milling 'Twos what it meant and what it was to be a Saiyan. Getting the point of the great, grand legacy of the formerly fictitious Saiyan Empire, the surrounding crowd of 'Twos cheered loudly, "Saiyans! Saiyans! We are Saiyans! Yeah!" At the height of their fervor, Mewthree flew up to hover up above them all and exhorted them to action, crying, "And now, who among us is worthy of that illustrious and gloried name? Who among us will go forth to liberate the Saiyans so unjustly imprisoned?" The reply was unanimous. They would all go free the 'Twos-Saiyans-Team Rocket held.  
  
With a wild whir of white wings, Shade joined Mewthree in the air as she shouted, "Let's go! Let this worldwide endeavor be known to all as the first act of the new Saiyan race!" The air erupted and was fairly torn to shreds as the many newly renamed Saiyans leapt to the sky, the hundreds of Mews whirling about their heads with a chorus of excited chirps. As they flew on, Mewthree linked her mind with all of them to tell them more about the Saiyans she knew from the old TV show. She said, (Saiyans exist on a level system, each level representing a different form and capability. Mews are still just Mews. 'Twos are standard Saiyans. 'Threes are Super Saiyans. I will teach you how to do The Wave now.) She did so. As they rose ever higher, she cast her awareness outward in all directions, testing out her ability to sense energy levels and life force. To her great surprise, she got a positive result. She shouted, "We've got a group of high energy levels to the east of here! Looks like they're in Japan! To be a Saiyan is to love to fight, so let's go see if there's a battle we can join in to show off our true strength! All enemies shall fall before our unstoppable power!" Where before she had shown them what it meant to be a Saiyan, she now showed them how it felt to be a Saiyan. She sang the lyrics from 'Born To Be Wild' in her mind as she showed them wildness and blood-hunger, honor and pride. When she had them all hooked and raring to fight, she began to lead them toward the fight in Japan.  
  
It only took them half an hour at the aerial speed they were able to attain. Soon the huge cloud of Saiyans was rocketing over a mountain range and onto a great desolate plateau. A huge blue energy sphere dominated the entire vista, but Mewthree's keen vision picked out the people who were standing nearby. One was a small battered kid with spiky golden hair and a broken left arm. He was casting a big blue beam into the heart of the energy sphere. It looked like he was doing The Wave. Standing nearby were a big, tall green guy with a long white cape, a big burly bald guy with three eyes, a tall scarred fellow with wild black hair, a short scowling man with really big spiky golden hair and a short bald midget with an unconscious blonde girl. They all looked to be awfully familiar to her. Mewthree looked at the other side of the huge energy sphere…and gasped in shock. Standing tall and proud on the other side was a big strange green-colored creature with a handsome milk-white face, a high double crest and glossy black insect wings. He was doing The Wave too. She turned in midair and fairly shrieked to Shade, "Do you see that weird-looking guy down there on the other side of the energy ball? That's Cell! You can remember Cell, right? And there's Gohan right over there! He's in a Wave contest with Cell, which means that Goku must already be dead and gone! Look down there, man! There's Piccolo! Do you see Tien and Yamcha who's standing right next to him? Oh my God-there's Vegeta himself! Over there's Krillin and I think that blonde girl right there must be 18!" Shade replied seriously, pointing toward the side, "And there's Trunks over there. The poor guy-he's hurt very badly." That simple fact made up Mewthree's mind in a hurry. She poked his shoulder and then said, "Don't forget, Shade, I'm a doctor. I can help Trunks and Gohan too. Let's go step in and kick some bug butt." She reached out with her psychic powers and shouted, (Okay then, everyone! Here's our very first fight! I'm giving you all of my knowledge of these people! Let's get in there and perform a group Wave on Cell pronto, guys! We'll teach him to underestimate the awesome power held by very powerful and very disgruntled Saiyans working together in large groups!) Following her orders, the Saiyans began to descend toward the battlefield so far below.  
  
Gohan, despite his father's coaching from beyond the grave, was just barely holding his own against Cell. Giving the fight all the strength that he had and so much more, he didn't have any time to notice the colossal group of very high power levels that were swiftly coming his way. He heard the sound of great wings tearing the crackling air to wildly rushing shreds on his left and right sides, then he heard two new voices give that unmistakable trademark war cry and join their energies to his own to aid him in his battle. "KAAAAAMEEEEEHAAAAAMEEEEHAAAAA!" Mewthree and Shade were both standing beside Gohan, both of them also doing The Wave on Cell. Their loud war cry was quickly taken up by a multitude of other throats as many dozens of furry Saiyans landed before, beside and behind all three of them to add their own energies to the group Wave. The Mews all joined in the group Wave without having to be told to do so, the sundered and wildly crackling air ringing out with untold thousands of loud individual cries of "MMMMMEEEEEWWWWW!" Unable to stand up to such sheer power, Cell gave a terrible cry of utter defeat as the searing energy washed over his shivering form.   
  
The battle was finally over. Gohan's spiky hair changed from gold to black as he changed back to his normal state. All of the new arrivals were totally amazed to see him changing like that, except for Mewthree and Shade. The two of them knew exactly what was going on. His eyes got really big when he finally looked at the group that were his saviors and rescuers. He had expected them all to be a group of human warriors, not a pack of large mutant cats. He was about to ask her a question, but Mewthree said abruptly, "Not right now, Gohan." He jumped and exclaimed, "What are you? How in the name of all sanity do you know my name?" She smiled down at him and replied in a soft voice, "Save those questions for a little bit later, please. You're hurt. Sit down and let me help you out." He was dumbfounded at that. These strange felines had just pulled his rear out of the fire with Cell. And they also knew his name! He then obediently sat down and just plain let Mewthree take a look at his broken arm. Her gentle three-fingered paws touched his arm. "This isn't good, sonny boy," she said, "You have a compound fracture in your upper arm." Turning to face Shade, she asked in a voice that was almost a shout, "Yo, brother. Do we have anything around here that we can use for splints?" He looked around, then said from across the way; "We've got some pretty thick sticks right over here." "That's very good," Mewthree said, "Show me, please." Shade held them up high for her to see. Her eyes blazed a bright blue and the two thickest sticks wrenched out of his grip and sailed toward her to land in her paw. Gesturing at the rags that hung from his small yet muscular frame, her eyes blazed blue again and the rags slowly floated into her grasp. Working quickly, she put his broken arm in a splint. Finished, she stood up, then looked down at him and asked; "Does it hurt?" Too dazed and confused to put up a brave front on anyone's behalf, he just said flatly, "Yes." She nodded once and replied, "Hold still for just a minute, please." She looked deeply into his eyes, then slowly reached up to gently touch his scraped-up cheek. He gasped. He could feel her in his mind! Just then, all sensation in his broken arm snapped into nonexistence. She smiled down at him and then said, "I just put up a mental block within your mind. You won't feel any more pain from your broken arm. Now, if you'll be so kind as to excuse me, I really have to leave."   
  
Turning away from Gohan, she slowly walked to where Trunks lay very near death, the hole Cell had punched through his chest smoldering ever so slightly. Mewthree mused quietly, "This situation is very bad indeed. Looks like I'll have to take some very drastic action here." A gruff voice snarled at her from behind, "Get away from my son right this instant or you will die by my hand, beast!" She turned around and saw a bristling Vegeta ready to jump on top of her. She just sneered at him and then growled, "He's stopped breathing. Looks like I'm his only hope, huh, Vegeta? Well, I'm going to help him out whether you like it or not!" Realizing that she planned to help his dying son, he slowly backed off. Mewthree covered the mortal wound with her paw and closed her huge eyes. "Trunks," she commanded solemnly, "Return to us." Both she and Trunks burned with a bright blue glow for a short yet long moment. Then Trunks bolted upright with a huge gasp for air. His grimy lavender hair obscured the shocked look on his face as he looked down at where the wound had been, only to find unmarred skin in place of the injury. He looked up at his female feline savior, but Mewthree was already walking away from him.   
  
She next walked over to where Krillin knelt by the unconscious 18 and crouched beside him. Lightly placing her paw on the female android's head, she closed her eyes. "18," she commanded, "Awaken." Barely pausing to realize that she was awake, 18 instinctively leapt at Mewthree. She hit an energy barrier and bounced back. Not seeming to have noticed her attack, Mewthree said in a chiding tone, "Now, now, 18. Calm down now, if you please. You're among friends here." Disoriented, 18 just backed off from her slowly.   
  
Her job done at last, Mewthree rejoined her waiting friends. The others just stared at her, all asking their questions at once, but she looked only at Vegeta, who was hanging back, pretending to be completely uninterested. She knew what would get his attention in a hurry. Surreptitiously turning to face toward Gohan while also continuing to watch Vegeta from the corner of her eye, she said in a relatively loud voice, "We are Saiyans." She smiled inwardly to see Vegeta's reaction to her statement. That statement had certainly gotten his attention. He stormed in just a little bit closer to her and to the group. Whatever he would have said to her was forgotten before he could even start to say it when Mewthree asked him, "Does the King still live? Is your father still alive right now?" He replied, "No." She asked him again, more forcefully this time, "Have you got any older siblings?" He replied again, "No." She then said, "Then it seems to me that you are not the Prince of all Saiyans after all." He just gave her a dumbfounded look, which she found to be mildly amusing. She continued, "Rather, you're the King of all Saiyans! All hail!" She then knelt down low before him. Shade and all of the others followed her lead and knelt before him as well. The happy little Mews, unheeding and uncaring, just somersaulted through the sky with joyous little chirps. Gohan slowly came up to her and asked, "Why are you and that other one with the wings so different from all the rest of them?" She smiled down at him and said, "Why, lad, for the very same reason you are. We're both Super Saiyans, the two of us. I'm called Mewthree and he's my younger brother Shade. That one over there, Mewtwo, was the first of the new breed, an artificial creation and I the creator, but all the others are natural-born Saiyans. He is the forefather of all Saiyans, just as I, as their creator, am the foremother. However, unlike you, my charming young lad, I was born as a Super Saiyan. It was the exact same way for Shade."   
  
One of the happily somersaulting Mews saw something strange and began to chirp out an alarm call, which all of the other Mews quickly took up. Everyone turned around where they stood. Mewthree simply teleported, which amazed everyone yet again. Materializing at the very front of the group, she looked at what it was that had alarmed the Mews so. A largish pile of small crushed rocks and pulverized earth was moving. Curious about it, Mewthree slowly walked closer. Crouching down low, she regarded the moving earth. Mere moments later, she found herself crouching eye to eye with a truly frightful visage. Fairly flying backward with a high, frightened little squeal, she shouted out very loudly, "Yikes! It's Cell!" Despite her pure fear, she noticed that, strangely, Cell had also thrown himself backward with a high, frightened little squeal. That wasn't like him at all. Vegeta promptly stomped a few steps forward with a low, growled curse directed toward Cell, charging up a blast that was meant to destroy him once and for all. Only Mewthree saw Cell's reaction to Vegeta's angry actions. Crouched down low on his hands and knees, shivering and clutching at a terrible, bloody wound in his side, Cell actually cringed and gave Vegeta a look of stark terror. Mewthree mentally paused, then silently asked the empty air, Could it be? Is it possible? Oh, it's too possible. And to Cell, of all people! She then stood back up and bravely stepped right into Vegeta's line of fire. He snarled at her, "Get out of my way so I can kill this freak!" Keeping her cool, she turned slightly to face him and then said quietly, "My lord, hold back the blast for a moment. Let me see something, please." Not giving him any time to respond to her request, she then moved in just a little bit closer to Cell, who tried in vain to retreat with a wordless cry of pure fear. Crouching down low before him, her big blue eyes blazing brightly, she commanded him coldly, "Look into my eyes. Now." He flinched with a soft little wordless mewling sound as she reached out to touch his face. Only Gohan knew exactly what she was going to do to Cell. His gaze tentatively met hers and she quickly slipped into his waiting mind. Cell stiffened under her touch with a harsh little gasp of pure shocked terror, his face slowly going totally blank as he stared at nothingness. Mewthree's eyes slowly drifted closed. Cell whispered words under his breath; words which Mewthree then spoke aloud. "She has called me Cell," she then intoned in a flat, low, monotone voice, "Is that my name? All I remember is a bright flash of light and then coming face to face with the winged catlike creature that now stands before me. Who am I? What is this place? I don't know the answers to either of those questions. I think my name is Cell, and that is all I know." She broke the link she had made with him and then stepped backward. Cell reeled back and nearly collapsed, panting harshly and still trying in vain to escape from her. Standing up shakily, she ever so slowly tottered over to where Vegeta still stood, momentarily stunned by what he had just heard. "My lord," she said to him softly, "He remembers nothing, knows nothing of what he has done and what he once was. His mind has been totally erased. The Cell that we knew, hated and feared…is no more. The one that you now see before you right now is an entirely new person, who will possibly be on our side from this day forth if we can play our cards right. Please allow me to do this little thing, my lord. I can remedy the situation and I can also do what is needed at this point in time."   
  
Rapidly recovering from the shock that she'd just had by forcing an entry into Cell's traumatized mind, she quickly turned away from him and then returned to where Cell still huddled and watched them fearfully. She crouched down beside him and then looked his wound over. He stared over at her and shivered weakly. Stark terror was written all over his milk-white face as he shook his head, wordlessly pleading with her to stay back. The only sound he made was a low moan. His eyes were wide with fear as he watched her like a hawk. When she reached out to touch the wound, he drew away from her slightly, and then froze like a deer caught in headlights. He closed his eyes and appeared to brace himself for the killing blow that he expected to receive from her. Instead, he felt a warm, vaguely pleasant tingling sensation from where she had just touched him. Looking up, he saw that her eyes were shining a bright pale blue. When she slowly drew back, her white paw stained with his purplish blood, he looked downward and saw she had healed him. He looked up at her and smiled. Not his usual smug little smirk, but a genuine smile.   
  
A wild thought then struck Mewthree's mind. He's actually kind of cute when he's not glowering or acting arrogant. He slowly stood up, towering over her. As she stared up at him, fear surged through her waiting body…and then it died away as she told herself that he wouldn't hurt her. True to her prediction, he didn't even do so much as lay a hand on her. Rather, he said to her in a soft, shy little voice, "Hello." Smiling back up at him, she replied, "Hello there. My name is Mewthree." Pointing over toward the scowling Vegeta and all of the others, he then asked her, "Who are they?" She replied, "They're our friends, Cell." Taking his hand, she led him to where the others still stood and watched her. He received a few sullen, hateful glares, along with a relatively good number of blatantly confused looks. She introduced them to him one by one, and he greeted each of them politely, even Vegeta, who just swore loudly and finished his introduction by insulting the hybrid. That simple little task done, Mewthree turned back toward him and said, "Now I guess it's time to find out just what you do remember." Folding her great white wings against her slender back, she concentrated and then slowly rose up into the air. "There," she said in a happy, satisfied tone of voice, "Now you try it." Looking kind of shocked, he asked her in an incredulous voice, "Let me get this straight. You want me to try to fly?" She mused quietly, "You must have forgotten how." He interrupted, shocked, "You mean I can fly?" He leapt to the air and then landed on his rear in a big cloud of dust. He looked kind of angry for a short moment, but then he started laughing. Then he looked down and got a good look at himself. "Whoa," he said, "Look at me! I'm green! And I've got wings? How wild can things get? Now that's weird!" At the other side of the very large crowd, Gohan mused to himself quietly, "He was such a powerful creature before…and now he can't even do so much as fly or even float. He can't possibly fake that. And he's also acting like a whole different person. He can't fake that either. He's lost his memory for sure. What he really needs now is some training." Taking the task upon himself, he walked just a little bit closer to the hybrid and then said quietly, "I can teach you all that you'll need to know, Cell." Mewthree nodded to him and agreed, "Trust him, Cell. He'd make a much, much better teacher for you than I ever would." Cell, instinctively remembering Gohan as someone who initially had meant him harm, hesitantly looked at Gohan with a look of perplexed uncertainty, then stepped forward.   
  
Rising up even higher on a strange subconscious cue, she looked all around…and then started in pure shock. Seven small bluish hybrid children were sitting together behind a large rock formation. Two of them were clinging to each other, terrified. One was crying. Another sat and sulked. Three more were curled up on the ground, sleeping. Turning to face the huge crowd of gathered Saiyans, she called out loudly, "Amber! Meiwa! Ana! Candy! Marla! Mercury! Get your furry tails over here pronto! We got us some kids right over here!" The six female Saiyans quickly joined Mewthree where she hovered high in the air and they all looked down at the seven little hybrid children. Their maternal instincts quickly took over as they each landed by one of the children and picked him up. They were all little boys. Mewthree landed and picked one up as well. She said to the terrified little hybrid child, who was now shivering in her arms and crying against her furry chest, "You need a name, little guy. Maybe I'll call you Kunzite." She turned to face toward the six other Saiyans and then said, "I'm giving all of them names. Ana, you've got Calcite. Candy, you've got Malachite. Amber, you've got Zoisite. Marla, you've got Nephrite. Mercury, you've got Tanzanite. Meiwa, you've got Morganite." The six Saiyans just silently nodded back to her, accepting the names and the kids as their own. Kunzite was still shivering in her arms. He looked up at her and she could see tears in his wide coral eyes. His little hands clung to her soft, warm fur as he laid his head against her chest. He mewled softly and hiccuped a few times, crying just a little bit more, but she could tell that he was already beginning to calm down. A warm embrace and a comforting presence seemed to be all that he really needed. Giving a soft little sigh of rapidly growing satisfaction, he curled up in her arms and then relaxed completely.  
  
Taking to the air, the newly named Kunzite held tightly in her furry arms, she returned to where the others still waited. When they all landed and Gohan got a good look at exactly what it was that they were all carrying, he exclaimed, "What? I didn't kill them after all?" The six other Saiyan females were all completely outraged at the thought of him hurting and trying to kill little children, even those who had been born of their former enemy, but Mewthree quickly interrupted them before they could begin to act on the outrage that they all felt. She stepped between them and Gohan, waved both sides backward and then said, "When Cell lost his memory, these kids did too. Now they're all just typical little kids. They need parents to love them and take care of them and teach them. The seven of us will raise them as if they were our own sons." Little Kunzite snuggled up against her with a soft little sigh of pure contentment, having already accepted her as his new mother.   
Hours passed and night fell on the desolate plain. Nightfall saw Mewthree and the new parents of the seven hybrids teaching the kids how to fly. Instinct remembered what their minds had forgotten, and so they picked it up quickly. Mewthree noticed that Cell was watching her teaching the children how to fly and he was trying the techniques that she was teaching to the children. Soon it was time for everyone to go to sleep. She settled down with Kunzite, who just curled up on her stomach and immediately fell asleep. It had been a long day for the small child. Suddenly she felt a presence at her back and a soft, hesitant voice spoke her name. Turning carefully to avoid disturbing the sleeping Kunzite, she saw that Cell stood there, fidgeting shyly and avoiding her gaze. He asked her softly, "May I spend the night with you?" Reaching out with her mind, she asked, (Mewtwo? Cell's here with me now. What do you think I should do?) Across the plain from her, Mewtwo reached out with his mind to secretly peek into Cell's thoughts. He replied, (Allow him. You're the only one he trusts out of all of us. Mewthree…I think he's falling in love with you.) That took her aback, but she allowed Cell to lie down by her.  
  
Mewthree awakened in the middle of the night to find that Cell had his arm draped over her, his head nestled against her shoulder as he slept soundly. Seeing the faint smile on his sleeping face, she undetectably slipped into his mind and read his feelings toward her. Oh, Cell, she thought, You believe you're in love with me. But you're not. Not really, anyway. And yet your need for love tugs at my soul like the gravity of a black hole. She thought of her true beloved, of Mewtwo. I shouldn't do this, she thought. But if it makes you happy and brings you the solace from confusion that you seek, what's the harm in it? She would let him love her, since love seemed to be what he needed most. Giving herself over to his embrace with a psychic apology to Mewtwo, she let herself fall asleep again.  
  
They all awakened with the dawn. Kunzite and his brothers nibbled on some tasty fruits, then promptly started wrestling with each other in an innocent, playful fashion. Almost all the Saiyans had gone foraging for their breakfast. Mewthree had remained behind, all alone. She sought out and found Vegeta, bowed before him respectfully and said quietly, "My lord." He interrupted, "Wait. Before you say or do anything else, I want you to explain something to me. You say that you are a Super Saiyan. Well, how come you haven't ever transformed into a form like that of the other Saiyans? In all the time since you first arrived, I have yet to see you make the change. Explain that to me. Right now."   
  
Mewthree replied patiently, "I was born a Super Saiyan, as was my little brother Shade. This is my natural form. For our breed, I think you have to be born a Super Saiyan to achieve that level of power. We're not too sure about that, though. Nobody's ever tried transforming." She paused for a long moment, then said, "As to the business that I came to see you about, my lord… I request your permission for the lot of us to leave this place. We must find and free the Saiyans still imprisoned in dungeons around the world. If you will just pardon me and give me leave to explain it to you, I shall do so to the very best of my abilities." He glowered over at her and then replied impatiently, "So just explain it to me already. Now!" She nodded vehemently and then said, "There is a huge worldwide criminal organization known to all just as Team Rocket. They're currently holding untold thousands of innocent Saiyans as prisoners in underground laboratories around the world for use as lab rats. I do hereby request your permission to go forth and free them all." Bowing low again, with a graceful little flourish this time around, she finished in a soft little voice full of calm and infinite patience, "I await your decision and command on the matter, my lord." Looking up at him once again, she found that he was shaking with pure outrage, his face twisted in a purely furious snarl. He hissed to her in a low, angry voice, "Saiyans…kept in cages…like mere animals? This injustice is intolerable! No force in the Universe can rightly imprison a Saiyan without fear of eventual retribution! I'm coming along with you for this quest too. Just as I am the King of all Saiyans, so too are you the Creator of all Saiyans. So now I am going to appoint you the one and only war leader. In any given battle you shall lead all the Saiyans…including, of course, myself."   
  
Cell quietly stepped forward, not meeting anybody's gaze no matter what, and said shyly, "Excuse me, please…but I'm coming along too." Gohan nodded wildly and then replied in an excited voice, "You can count me in on this!" Piccolo stepped forward with an angry huff, glowering at all of them as he did so, and grumbled at the lot of them, "Well, somebody has to watch Cell and make sure he doesn't go back to his old destructive ways." Krillin quietly stepped up, gestured toward Tien, Trunks and Yamcha and said, "Hold on just a minute. Do you really think you could handle him all alone if he decided to go back to being evil? The lot of us are coming along with you as your reinforcements in case that happens, buddy." 18 just gave Mewthree a level gaze and said flatly, "I do seem to owe you a big favor for helping me out back there. We, after all, are of a kind. You and I and the other new Saiyans are all essentially the same. We artificially created beings all have to stick together as teammates in this crazy world." A long moment later, she gave Mewthree a blatantly confused look and then asked, "Did I imagine that Cell survived the fight, or was I just hallucinating it?" Cell took a small step forward, gave her a gentle little smile and then said to her very softly, "Are you talking about little old me?"  
  
Her big icy blue eyes went wide at the sight of the inhuman figure towering over her, then narrowed with pure hatred. She then smiled at him fiercely and it became plain what she wanted to do as she purred in a deceptively sweet voice, "Actually…" Mewthree and all of the others were astonished by her sheer speed as she attacked him. Compared to him, she looked like she was petite and weak, but she was actually a heck of a lot stronger than the hybrid was, now that he had forgotten how to fight back. He watched with frightened confusion as she leapt at him. She charged at him full on, then she flipped right over him at the very last second and landed right square on his back, right between his glossy black wings. Latching on to him with all of her truly formidable strength, she laid her chin on his armored shoulder and then snarled at him in a low, threatening, hissing growl of a voice, "I was just talking about how badly I want you to die!" She then cast out an utterly impenetrable electric barrier that went all around the two of them, effectively preventing anyone else from intervening on Cell's behalf. She crowed with no small amount of savage joy, "Oh, yes! You're mine now, Cell! No force on or off Earth can save you from the fury of my vengeance now! Feel the wrath of an angry android!" She then swiftly wrapped her arms around his exposed throat and locked her legs around his chest. Wasting no more time on niceties, not giving him a chance to react to her actions, she then she brutally began to squeeze, choking him. He gave a loud momentary yelp of frightened, shocked pain, but his terrified, pained cry swiftly degenerated into a low, choked cough of fear as he struggled in vain to break free of her suffocating grip. Now he was completely unable to breathe, he was in the grip of a person who wanted to kill him, and both of those facts terrified him to no end. Turning, he looked over at the panicked Mewthree in search of aid, and she promptly started flipping her furry lid at the sight of his frightened, desperate, agonized expression. Lunging forward with her wings spread menacingly, she yelled wordlessly as she tried in vain to break through 18's electric shield. She was promptly electrocuted and thrown back with a wild scream of pain, her furry body smoking and crackling with residual static. Other Saiyans, arriving on the scene and seeing Mewthree's desperate actions, began to pound on the shield with all of their collective psychic might. Shade crouched down beside her as she tried in vain to stand back up, to join her powers to those of the other Saiyans and attack the shield yet again, and said, "They're pounding away with all their power…and the shield's not even so much as wavering! Mewthree, it genuinely looks to me like Cell's going to be on his own for this fight." Unable to stand up, she fairly shouted in frantic terror, "No! No, Shade! He shouldn't have to do this all alone! He's forgotten how to fight!" Her fearful protests faded away into an empty silence as a strange feeling began to take hold of her.  
  
Can't breathe… Cell's desperate attempts to breathe degenerated into a rough, sickening rasping sound as he wavered on his feet, weakening rapidly. Why? Why is she doing this to me? Sensing her foe's growing weakness and knowing that he was dying because of what she was doing to him, 18 gave a wild, evil laugh and then suddenly increased the already brutal constricting pressure that she was applying to his tortured throat and chest. I didn't think it was possible to feel this much pain and stay alive… He stiffened and convulsed, giving a choked cry of utter agony. It hurts it hurts oh God it hurts… A thin stream of purplish blood flowed from his mouth as he fought in vain to force a howl of pure torment past the crushing constriction that blocked his throat. Please! Make it stop! The entire world began to spin around him, the colors and images fading together. I feel so dizzy…so weak… Swirling bright lights, unfathomable darkness and unimaginable colors floated and danced before his eyes. What's happening to me? Everything seemed to recede. It's going away…it's all going away… All of the sounds in the universe began to fade into nothingness under a great roaring that filled his whole body. What is that horrendous sound I keep hearing? It feels like an ocean falling in on me… He strained to hear Mewthree's frantic cries. She cares for me. She really cares for me… He collapsed to his knees and landed in a limp, lifeless heap as the entire world fell away into silence.  
  
Mewthree was already close to the breaking point and she was getting closer and closer to reaching it with each passing moment. Having to watch this obscene horror unfold, unable to intervene because she was too weak, was wreaking havoc on both her body and her mind. Time seemed to slow down to an unnaturally slow crawl, both for her and for Shade. Shivering and panting, she whispered softly, "Shade, something's happening to me. I feel…strange… Like I could…" She then watched in a frenzy of panicked horror as Cell collapsed with a final, desperate convulsion as he made a strange gurgling rasping noise deep in his chest. That did it for Mewthree. Her face twisted in a snarl and she began to growl in a low voice. A bright white aura blazed from her body as, impossibly, she climbed to her feet. "Stop it," she whispered in a quivering voice. The flames of the aura blazing around her body raged like a monochromatic wildfire. Her entire body was quivering with fright and anger as the white aura began to burn more and more violently. It took on a golden tint that grew and grew until it burned the same color as the sun itself. Strangely, both she and her golden aura began to flicker. Her lithe, slender, white-furred, bird-winged body began to sporadically flash into…something else. She clenched her paws into fists and brought them up against her chest as she trembled with mixed anger and fear. Her voice slowly grew louder as she whispered, "Stop it. Stop it! Stop it!" The bright golden flashes became more rapid and blended together to make an image of an entirely new creature as she arched her furry back, spread her white wings wide, raised both her fists toward the sky, tilted her head back, closed her eyes and then screamed…  
"STOP IT!"  
Her aura exploded in a blinding burst of gold. Everyone had to either look away or go blind. When they looked again, what they saw amazed them. Mewthree had…changed. She looked far stronger, and was far more heavily built. A segmented carapace covered her muscular body and acted as natural armor. Her tail was thick, spiked and it had a big spike-encrusted club at the end of it. Her face was very harshly angular and even her pointed ears looked like they were razor sharp. Her wings had changed an awful lot too. They were now vast and membranous, like the wings of a huge hairy bat, and they now appeared to have serrated edges. Her eyes blazed a bright demonic red and her darkened fur was the hue of ancient ashes. Her paws and her feet were both adorned with sharp, curved talons. Only Vegeta knew just what had happened to her. "The transformation," he whispered softly. The newly changed Mewthree grinned hugely, revealing glittering vampire fangs. (I am Ultra Mewthree,) she thought to them all, (I guess you could say I'm an Ascended Saiyan. Now to the battle!) She made as if to step forward…and then she almost seemed to disappear. She left a long trail of ghostly images behind her as her ash-gray form blurred toward the electric shield. Passing through the electric shield as if it didn't exist, she grabbed 18, took over the female android's mind and made her release Cell. Picking her up with the greatest of ease, she effortlessly tossed 18 toward Shade. She called out to him, (Hey, catch her!) Shade quickly caught her with a psychic shield, which he then used to confine her, getting several other Saiyans to help him out with it. The android was unconscious again, but Shade and the other Saiyans made the psychic shield as strong as they could possibly manage to make it even despite that simple fact.  
  
Slowly relaxing and transforming back into her normal self, Mewthree knelt beside Cell. His face had gone deathly pale, although she didn't know that a hue paler than milk-white could exist. His eyes were closed and his face was twisted with pain. The only other clue to the dire situation that he was in was the thin stream of blood that flowed from the corner of his mouth. She touched his badly bruised throat with a trembling paw and felt something give way under her touch. He was still breathing, but not very well. He made a wet gurgling sound deep in his chest with each weak, shuddering breath that he struggled to take. His feeble attempts to breathe were rapidly growing weaker and weaker with each passing moment. Mewthree shifted her gaze to his feebly heaving chest as he gasped for air. A simple touch told her that 18's attack on him had broken almost all of his ribs. One of them had punctured his left lung and it was rapidly filling up with blood. She bowed her furry head and sobbed softly against his spasmodically twitching shoulder. The evidence set before her was undeniable. Cell was dying. Then the fateful knowledge struck her. The strange things that she had done for both Trunks and Cell before… Wait, she thought suddenly, I'm a healer? She really couldn't believe it at first. Then a burning determination filled her soul. I have to try, she thought. Moving very carefully, she took Cell's limp body in her arms, gently cradling his head against her furry chest, her arms wrapped loosely around his unmoving shoulders. He'd stopped trying to breathe. His face had relaxed and his heartbeat was fading away into the silence of death. If she were going to help him, to save him, the time would have to be right now. She closed her great blue eyes and concentrated on trying to remember. She had to remember exactly how she'd felt when she'd healed both Cell and Trunks, and call upon that same strange feeling once again. Her paw rested against his milk-white cheek, her touch far lighter than that of any feather. The feeling that she was trying to summon up didn't come to her. She trembled slightly; tears streaming from her tightly closed eyes. She bowed her furry head low, in a silent panic, frantically trying to force herself to remember just what she'd done for the both of them before. Her concentration deepened by leaps and bounds as she forced herself down into the dark depths of her own soul. Cell… Her terror was growing as his erratic heartbeat slowed and faded. God…please let me help him… Why couldn't she heal him? She had to save his life! He doesn't deserve to die right now…not like this…   
  
Shade and the others looked on in awe as her entire body began to burn a faint blue. It got brighter and brighter until she blazed like a star come down from the sky. After a long moment, Cell's body began to burn with the same blue light as hers. His glow grew to match hers until their individual radiance was indistinguishable from the other one's and they burned as one being. A sound filled their ears like the great swirling hiss of rushing winds, then faded away into nothingness as the glow began to fade too. Looking back at the scene again, they saw that nothing about Cell seemed to have changed…or had it?  
  
Mewthree was awakened from her deep trance by a gentle touch on the paw that rested on Cell's cheek. Returning to herself with a little gasp, she opened her eyes and looked down. Cell's hand covered the paw that still rested against his face. He was now perfectly healed, awake and smiling up at her, looking as if he had done nothing more than awaken from a very deep sleep. "Thank you," he whispered to her softly, "Why are you crying?" She couldn't try to make a reply for fear of bursting into tears; but then again she didn't really have to make a reply. The happy look in her great blue eyes said it all to him. Tears stained her furry cheeks as she smiled down at him. She released him from her gentle embrace and he stood back up, but then he cringed with a soft little hiss of purest pain. His arms crossed over his chest as he doubled over with a small, strangled yelp and nearly fell back down to the ground. His coral eyes shut tight and his milk-white face twisted in supreme pain as he stiffened and wavered ever so slightly where he stood. The sight of that movement impelled by pain immediately sent Mewthree's hair-trigger mind right into its most familiar pattern of thought: 'doctor mode'. She quickly looked him over with a critical eye and then said, "It's just a bit of residual pain, not an injury. Give it some time, a few hours at the very most, and it'll go away completely. You'll be fine." He looked down at her and just smiled at her. She smiled right back at him hesitantly.  
She then turned and stepped away from him, intending to return to her little brother's side, but Vegeta stopped her. His usual angry glower held just a tiny hint of…respect? He said to her in a rough growl, "You transformed. You're all that and a healer, too. You were effectively the Queen of all Saiyans before all of you met me. And now I think it's time for me to see just how powerful you really are." She faked going pale at the thought and replied more for his mental benefit than out of any form of honesty, "Good Lord, I'm so going to die. Yo, Shade, would you mind arranging my funeral for me? I'm about to get trashed by the best Saiyan there is, was and ever will be. I mean, with Goku I'd at least have a chance of survival. I could possibly even beat him, with a little bit of strategy and some luck. But I'll never beat the King." Unbeknownst to Vegeta, Mewthree was just stoking his ego. She had actually desired this all of her life. She had wished from her earliest childhood years that she could face off against the great Prince of all Saiyans. And, though she hid it quite well, she actually had absolutely no doubt that she could take him on and win against him with the greatest of ease. After all, was she not the one and only Mewthree, the self-created Super Saiyan with unknown powers? Turning back to face him, she gave him a sad, resigned little smile on her furry face and said, "No holding anything back on me, please. Anything less than the very best effort would be an insult to me. I won't be able to hold anything back on you, so please don't hold back on me. Give me all you got. Go hard on me. Trash me. Beat me into the ground. Do what you will. That's all I ask of you, my lord. Don't go easy on me because I'm a weakling, okay?"   
  
He gave her a totally fake sneer and then replied mockingly, "Don't worry. I won't hold back." Turning away, she took her place on the battlefield and then watched as he took his. He smirked. She smirked back. Then she said, "First shot goes to the royalty. Fire away, my lord." He charged up an attack and launched it at her. She didn't move, didn't even react as it drew closer…then she teleported just before it would have hit her and vaporized her. Vegeta whirled around to find that she was now floating right behind him.   
  
"Instant Transmission," she said simply with a smile, "I've always wanted to try it." She then got serious and said, "My lord, you might actually have some trouble beating me. I'm a self-created Super Saiyan with unknown powers. Even I don't know what all I can do." He smirked up at her and replied with a sarcastic sneer, "Oh, I'm going to enjoy this!" Mewthree decided to pull out all the stops and just go at him full force. He fired another beam at her. It dissipated for no apparent reason. Her eyes blazed a cold blue and she smiled at him evilly. A bit put off by her smile, he fired a rapid series of beams. One abruptly changed direction for no good reason and then shot straight up and into the sky. Another one hit an unseen barrier and was refracted into nothingness. She put out her paw and caught another one, dribbled it a few times and faked a basketball pass to the nearest large rock, which promptly blew up when the beam hit it. One mysteriously stopped in midair, hung suspended for a few long seconds, and blasted right back at him.   
  
"Enjoy this," she hissed as she controlled its flight toward him. He dodged it with a curse and she released it, the beam flying off into the distance. She made a great show of powering down, then called up at him, "Here! I'm wide open now, my lord! Gimme all you got!" By now enraged, he roared at her, "Final Flash!" She didn't even try to dodge. In fact, she stretched out her arms to embrace the approaching beam of blazing death. The deadly energy tore through the entire area with no resistance whatsoever and then quickly dissipated to reveal a huge hole carved in the ground with no Mewthree to be found anywhere. Vegeta chuckled and said, "That's one more victory for me." Shade gasped. Mewtwo felt sick. Kunzite started crying against Cell's leg. The hybrid picked the child up and held him. He also felt like crying, but for some reason he couldn't do it. He had the strangest feeling that Mewthree was still around. Was she really dead?  
(HOLD IT!)  
The voice thundered from out of nowhere, exploding inside of everyone's minds. The sheer power of it exploded in Vegeta's mind and he screamed out in the purest agony. (I'm not through with you yet, Vegeta! Death from above!) He looked up and gasped at the sight of the sharp-clawed gray-furred bat-winged red-eyed monstrosity diving at him from above. Ultra Mewthree performed a fast high-speed full-body tackle with her talons extended, gashing him deeply in multiple places and sending him to the ground, having been knocked out with just one solid hit. She stayed right there on top of him, her feet on his wrists to pin down his arms, her spiked tail wrapped loosely around his legs and her claws at his throat. (Victory to me,) she said. He wasn't awake to hear it. She looked down at him and her red eyes began to blaze. A blood red aura surrounded the both of them. She was healing him. She lowered her ghastly head, closed her evil red eyes and did something else. In Vegeta's mind, there was a great crash of thunder in the form of words spoken in the booming voice of his long-dead father, the true Saiyan king. (HIDDEN POWER, AWAKEN!) He awakened to the knowledge that there was a whole new level of power out there, which only the King of all Saiyans could ever try to attain. As she healed him, she transformed back into her normal form and she just relaxed.  
  
He saw Mewthree's concerned face hovering over his field of vision. He asked her gruffly, "What just happened to me?" "I beat you," she replied quietly. He fairly yelled at her, "What was that?" "You heard me," she said in a slightly louder voice, "I just beat you." Behind her, she could hear someone cheering loudly. Shade ran up behind her and exclaimed, "Wow! You actually did it! I don't believe it! I didn't think it could be done, but you did it! You actually won!" Mewthree looked up at him and replied frankly, "I just got lucky is all. I just got lucky." She then stood up and began to walk away without saying another word to anyone. Vegeta, however, was in a killing rage with her in mind. He snarled at her, "No one humiliates the King of all Saiyans and lives to tell the tale! You've just earned yourself an early grave with that stupid little stunt! Final Flash!"   
  
The massive beam tore through the area where Mewthree had stood. Everyone gave cries of shock at the sight of Vegeta's pure brutality toward a fellow Saiyan. The smoke slowly cleared away, revealing a second giant crater. Shade ran to the very edge of the crater and called his sister's name as loud as he could. A familiar voice called out, "Up here!" A black form hovered high above the crater. Shade shot straight up into the air and then drew nearer. It was Mewthree, but she was very badly burned. She looked at him and said, "Shade, I… I…" A strange glow built around her charred body and she shouted, "I am transformed!" When everyone could see again, Mewthree appeared to be gone.   
In her place hovered a semi-perfect duplicate of Cell. The new hybrid's green armor had undeniably feminine contours and its-no, her big bright eyes were a pale coral and they also seemed to be vaguely luminous. She had the same high double crest, but a metallic trefoil adorned her forehead. She was quite a bit more slender than her male counterpart and her pretty milk-white face was graced with twin streaks of the deepest indigo. And she was a full six and a half feet tall, just half a foot shorter than Cell himself. Looking over at Shade, whose jaw was now effectively lying on the ground, she said, "Man! That was some wild and weird stuff! What's just happened to me? Right now I feel so weird." He just barely managed to choke out, "Take a look at what's just happened to you." She did so and gasped in shock to find that she had changed…again. "Whoa," she said in a soft voice, "It happened again. Laura to Mewthree, Mewthree to Ultra Mewthree and now Ultra Mewthree to…this? Things just seem to be getting weirder and weirder with each passing day, don't they? Oh, well. Not much can be done about it right now. But it's not like I mind the change too much. Weirdness seems to be my forte nowadays. It doesn't matter to me all that much, though. I'll adapt to how my life has changed. I always do."   
  
Closing her coral-hued eyes, she tilted her head back and smiled just a little bit. "This transformation," she said in a soft, incredulous voice, "It's amazing! I've never felt such raw energy running through my veins before, even when I was in the form of Ultra Mewthree! The power! The absolute power! I feel as if the whole Universe is mine to command…to control! I can split the sky and step across the sea itself! I feel as if I have become a God!" Shaking her head, she regained control of herself and said softly, "Now I know why Cell used to be so cocky and arrogant. It's hard not to be that way when you're living on a constant energy rush like this. God, this form is such a huge ego trip!"   
  
Gently drifting downward, she moved with unnatural speed as she stormed up to Vegeta, grabbed him by the throat, roughly hauled him up to her eye level and snarled right in his face, "Now look what you just did to me! Look what I just got turned into, man! You could be the King of all Saiyans or the King of all dung heaps for all I care, and if you dare to try that stupid little stunt with me just one more time, you'll be king of the dead!" Then, with a simple, small flick of her slender wrist, she effortlessly tossed him away from her as if he were nothing to her. Marveling at her new strength, she laughed out loud. She looked to Mewtwo, who was completely repulsed by her. That should have made her feel sad, but she somehow didn't care about it. How much had she changed? Had her mind also changed as much as her body had? Just how different was she now?  
  
She then turned back to face Shade with an utterly satisfied grin and said, "I always wanted to do that, too." Then she got serious and said, "I think I know what must have happened to me back there. Do you remember when I healed Cell for the first time? I came into contact with some of his blood when that happened. I must have acquired his DNA when I came into contact with his blood. His innate regenerative capabilities must make his blood a very highly active transforming vector, invading and then actually rewriting the very genome of whatever or whomever it might happen to touch. While I found and adopted little Kunzite, made my first transformation into the form of Ultra Mewthree to rescue Cell, healed Cell a second time to save his life and then faced off against Vegeta, my body was all the while incorporating the new DNA into my genome. As you may recall if you're not stupid or something like that, Vegeta darn near vaporized me back there. I survived and I also healed up quite nicely, but instead of following the physical pattern laid out by my natural genome, the rewritten genome was used instead. And I healed so quickly because I already had his regenerative powers hidden within my body. I guess this is the new me from now on. Mewthree is dead. I am Jadeite now."   



	2. A Year To Train...Team Rocket Beware! Ce...

Meanwhile, Vegeta heard an odd semi-feminine voice say, "Wait just a minute there. We haven't properly introduced ourselves to you yet." He turned around and saw a group of ten strangely marked Saiyans standing all together right behind him. One of them jumped forward, posed like a spastic ballerina and shouted, "Frost!" A second jumped forward, struck up a semi-tasteful complementary pose and shouted, "Ice!" A third jumped into view, posed dynamically and shouted, "Snowfall!" A big vibrantly colored male sashayed into full visibility and said flatly, in the familiar James Bond style, "Cold. King Cold." Flipping in, spinning around and posing like a master gymnast, a fifth shouted, "Mist!" A sixth capered threateningly before him as if she were performing in a shadow play and shouted, "Rain!" A seventh Saiyan suddenly skidded across the of the others view in a wacky cheerleading pose, kicking up a cloud of dust as she did so, then took up her assigned position with a rapid series of back flips and shouted, "Subzero!" An eighth ran into the area, struck up a well-known disco pose and shouted, "Blizzard!" A ninth somersaulted in from behind the rest and shouted, "Storm!" A little kitten skittered into view, struck up a little fighting pose and lisped in a soft, high little voice, "Freezer!" Then, all together, they said loudly, "Together, we are…the Winter Force!" Vegeta just rolled his eyes and grumbled at them loudly, "Now I've seen it all." He looked just a little bit closer at the group as they quietly held their dynamic poses. Most of them had glossy cold-colored markings set on their foreheads, shoulders, forearms, lower legs and chests, but they were usually plain white everywhere else. That looked almost familiar to him…  
  
The little kitten broke formation, scampered right up to him and brazenly jumped into his arms. Eye to eye with the child, Vegeta had no choice but to meet the glittering obsidian gaze. The child's markings were a deep purple and they were very smooth, almost glassy. He lisped in a strangely familiar voice, "I had dreams about you. I fought you on an alien planet and you died there. I died there too. A man with yellow hair killed me. I know I was dreaming real." Looking down at his chest, the small kitten then said, "You still got your armor! You fixed it, too! I made a hole in the tummy part but that's all fixed. I'm sorry I hurt you. My name is Freezer. I made it up all by myself when I was little." The way the little child spoke to him, his glossy markings and even the inflections in his squeaky little voice… There could be no doubt whatsoever. Vegeta now believed in reincarnation. This young Saiyan child was undoubtedly the newly reincarnated form of his former master and greatest enemy, the one whose name he would never willingly speak. The child just cuddled up against his chest and then murmured softly, fully in the persona of Vegeta's long deceased enemy, "Of all those who followed me and did what I said, I liked you the very best. I almost considered you…my son." He practically dropped the little child. A tall, strong male stepped up a little bit closer to him, and he recognized him. He was colored a deep purple and his ears were a shade of blue so dark that it was almost black. He smiled and said in a deep, low, rumbling purr of a voice, "I am King Cold. Over there is my beloved wife, Snowfall. I see you've already met my young son." This had knocked Vegeta for a loop, to say very least. His former master, the evil warlord who had blazed a path of death and destruction throughout half the galaxy, had been reduced to a small child who trusted him implicitly. The mother and father of that same warlord, whom Vegeta had always assumed were evil people themselves, were now nothing more than proud parents. King Cold pointed toward the other oddly colored Saiyans and said, "Now I want you to meet all of my relatives. Storm is my younger brother and Rain is his wife. Their child is named Mist. Frost and Ice are my parents, and Blizzard and Subzero are Snowfall's parents. We're all relatives here in the Winter Force, and we all wield strange new powers like nothing ever seen before in a typical Saiyan."  
  
Jadeite hopped up behind him, pulled into a low hover, then tried to use the powers she'd had as Mewthree. Succeeding, she found that her feeling of pure power hadn't been a lie for her powers were indeed far stronger in her new form. She tried using the mimicking powers she remembered seeing Cell use when she was just a young child, and her new reality had been nothing more than a TV program. They came to her easily. She supposed that she could use her own attacks too. She could probably perform any attack she could possibly make up. Grinning fiercely, she said rudely, "Vegeta!" He then turned to face her with an angry scowl. She continued, "I suppose I should thank you for changing me like this. My power level has skyrocketed. And get this: I can imitate and ultimately learn any and all attacks used in my vicinity, whether they are used by friend or foe. Just watch me." Looking up at the clear blue sky, she shouted, "Final Flash!" Just as Vegeta had done, she released a beam into the sundered heavens, only hers was a great deal more powerful than his had been. She smirked as he gaped at her display of her new power.   
  
A familiar voice gave a wordless cry of shock and she quickly turned around to see who it was. Cell stood there, gawking up at her with pure awe. That was when she found that her mind had changed drastically along with her body. She no longer felt any sort of sisterly affection toward Shade, and no attraction toward Mewtwo, which saddened her somewhere deep down inside her newly changed soul. Instead, she now found Cell to be the handsomest male in the area. And the sight of the seven little hybrid children stirred up her maternal instincts until they burned far brighter than they ever had before. Using something more than words or even thoughts, she called the little ones to come on over to her. All of them, Kunzite, Zoisite, Malachite, Nephrite, Calcite, Tanzanite and Morganite, left the company of their adopted mothers behind and swiftly soared upward to whirl and caper around her, giving shrill tittering giggles as they did so. Flexing his glossy black wings, Cell swiftly joined her in the air. She welcomed him by twisting sinuously through the air and sidling up next to him with a sly little smile. It looked to all of them like she was beginning some form of a mating dance. Alternately whirling and sashaying through the air, she subtly lured him into joining the dance. He couldn't help but respond to her sly advances. Soon the two of them danced lightly in the air, side by side. The children tried dancing too, imitating the two of them, but they ended up doing something that looked like a weirdly distorted combination of underwater polka, dogs barking to country tunes, rap played in low-fidelity reverse and sped-up opera. The kids were all obviously enjoying themselves immensely, even though their attempts at dancing stank horribly. Mewtwo watched the former Mewthree dance with her new mate. (Goodbye forever, my only love,) he sadly thought to her, lamenting her loss, (Good luck with your new life. Remember that you were once a proud, powerful Super Saiyan. Remember me.) Ceasing her graceful little aerial dance with Cell, Jadeite turned to face the milling group of Saiyans. She called out to the lot of them, "Before we go forth for our siege on all those Team Rocket bases out there in the world, we will take a full year to train ourselves and grow stronger. All you Saiyans can go and train yourselves wherever and however you wish to do so. Cell and I will take our seven children and fly far away from here to train on our own. In precisely one full year, and no more or less than one full year, we will all gather together right here in this very same spot, and from right here we will all then go forth for our great quest. You have just one full year to train. Remember that, please."   
  
She turned to face Vegeta alone and said, "I sense a new energy level deep within you. A whole new level awaits you…and you alone." Calling out to everyone again, she said, "We're leaving! Let the full year of intense training and preparations for war begin now!" Clapping her arms to her sides and bringing her legs together, Jadeite spread her black wings and looked up at the heavens and let the wind take her as she flew up like a kite. Cell watched her for a moment before he did the same as she had done and followed. The kids imitated their parents and rose higher in quick succession. Soon they flew high in the sky, mere dots against a background of pale crystal blue. Banking and turning in a rapid sequence, they looked like a line of nine fighter planes soaring through the vastness of the heavens. They circled overhead once, then turned one by one to begin a flight due west.  
  
The year of training officially began the very moment Cell and Jadeite and the children were out of their sight. Vegeta, as usual, pushed himself the hardest of all of them, and everybody was practically taking bets on whether he'd give out and when. Krillin, Tien and Yamcha took to busting and blasting big boulders during their every free moment. Piccolo alternated between meditating and practicing by fighting everyone all at once. Gohan pushed his speed and strength to the limit, and then went beyond it. 18 and Trunks sparred nonstop. The other Saiyans practiced in grand melee fights all together. Every so often, Vegeta would chart his progress in his training by participating in the grand melee fights and seeing how many butts he could kick before he got his own butt kicked. Totally psyched out and ready to kick anyone's butt at a moment's notice, Shade always sought out Vegeta in those fights and quickly laid the righteous smack down on the short, egotistical Saiyan. Fully using the strategic advantages given by his big wings, his long tail and his strong psychic powers, Shade was a truly formidable opponent and thusly he was a perfect foe for Vegeta. Not only would he willingly challenge Vegeta in those grand melee fights, but also he'd happily challenge Gohan, Yamcha, Krillin or anyone else who came his way. Mewtwo engaged Vegeta in practice fights almost daily, being by far the oldest and strongest Saiyan in the new group. Whenever he wasn't fighting with Vegeta or with anyone else who wanted to test their new strength against him in a battle, Mewtwo just teamed up with Shade and, working together, they quickly became a truly formidable duo whenever it came to mimicking and learning everyone's energy techniques. They also taught them to all the other Saiyans. 18 and Trunks soon became good friends and took to double-teaming on their opponents. The Saiyans learned to team up to use group energy attacks as they had done when they had initially joined the battle against Cell. They also learned how to link together to form a single mind and strengthen their attacks in that way. In short, they learned all that could be known about teamwork. Tien and Yamcha quickly teamed up to form a truly dynamic duo. Working together with the greatest of ease, they designed, developed and perfected a mix of their individual attacks. Krillin slowly overcame his innate shyness and just plain took on anyone who came his way and chose to challenge him. Being the strongest true Saiyan there by far, Vegeta actually took Gohan under his wing and taught him how to use his boundless rage to fuel his ever-increasing power. Quickly finding out that there was nothing more that he could teach the child, he and Gohan promptly teamed up to teach little Freezer how to fight properly. It was immediately discovered that the little kitten actually needed no teaching whatsoever, since the instinctive savagery of his former self still remained in him and he was already a holy terror in battle even without any training at all. Upon receiving a battle challenge from anyone, the gentle, sweet young kitten would go utterly cold inside and become a truly ruthless fighter. During those times, his movements, words and even his personality were totally different from what everyone else knew of him. He knew an energy technique that was all his own, which he had obviously been born knowing how to do. He called it the Razor's Edge. It was a form of wickedly sharp cutting laser that he could fire forth from his paw at will. The child was often totally arrogant, cocky and overconfident and apt to smirk nastily whenever he was in a fight, all the while tossing off careless challenges to all who came his way or even looked at him in a way that he deemed to be wrong. His speed, strength and agility were unequaled by any of the other Saiyans. In any given battle, he listened only to the commands given to him by his father. Snowfall remained the gentle, sweet woman she obviously had always been, even in her former life, but King Cold, just like his young son, had regained at least some of the merciless savagery and cold command of his former nasty self. He tended to start bossing people around in moments of supreme crisis or just in any normal fight. The strangest thing about him was that he always seemed to know exactly what to do and also when to do it. His charisma motivated everyone around him and all of the other Saiyans would routinely obey his will for no apparent reason. The others of the Winter Force perfected their teamwork to the point where there was no need to speak during a battle.   
  
The year passed in a frenzied blur of activity and everyone got a whole lot stronger, but soon the allotted time was up. It was time for them to return to the plateau where the fateful conflict with Cell had taken place and wait for that same Cell, along with Jadeite and her seven children to return from wherever they had gone to spend the year. No one disputed Vegeta taking the lead with Gohan and everyone was just fine with little Freezer hot-dogging through the sky, blazing an aerial trail behind his father. Though he hid it from the lot of them behind a calm veneer, Vegeta was totally infuriated by the idea that they were going to the plateau to meet up with Cell. Even though a full year had already passed and should have been enough time for him to get used to the fact that Cell was on their side, he still wanted revenge for what the hybrid had done to him and to his son. No one could stop him when he decided to act, since no one knew what he was going to do.  
  
They all landed on the plateau and found that the entire place was totally empty and that there was no one there. Everyone looked all around, completely confused by the lack of any presences. Eventually, Shade shrugged, huffed unhappily and then asked the empty air, "Where in the heck is Cell?" He got his answer when Mewtwo pointed up at the clear blue sky and shouted out as loud as he could, (Look up there! Who's that up in the sky?) One single dark green and black streak flashed through the fluffy white clouds and then swiftly swooped down to land right between Mewtwo and Vegeta. A tall green hybrid stood there before them, a gentle little smile on his handsome milk-white face. Shade said in an unsure voice, "Is that you, Cell?" The hybrid just shook his head and replied in a gentle voice, "Nope, I'm Kunzite. Mom and Dad will be along in just a minute." The heavens promptly rang with the queer hiss of multitudinous forms rapidly cutting through the air. The Saiyans scattered as even more tall hybrids landed all around Kunzite. They numbered twenty-two in all. But Cell and Jadeite were not among them. A familiar voice then shouted at the lot of them, "Hey down there, Shade! We're both up here, dude!"   
  
Saiyans and hybrids together quickly looked upward and saw that Cell and Jadeite were floating together high overhead. The twin indigo streaks on her pretty milk-white face seemed to shimmer in the sunlight as she smiled down at the lot of them. "The gang's all here now," she said, "Is everybody ready to get going on the quest?" Behind the lot of them, Vegeta wore a particularly venomous scowl as he stared upward at Jade and the happily smiling Cell. You totally humiliated me when we fought so very long ago, Cell, he thought angrily, I won't ever forgive you for that fact. I don't really care whether you've lost your memory or not. When you leave yourself open, when I get the chance, I will destroy you. He smirked at the thought and then began to pay attention to what Jadeite was saying to everyone. "Our first target is over at Ayers Rock in Australia," she said, "I saw a great many psychic visions of our target as I trained for this coming battle. Judging from what those visions showed me, Team Rocket has made untold thousands of tunnels within the rock itself and the surrounding ground. If I know those fiends in Team Rocket, they've probably reinforced every single one of the tunnel walls with thick sheets of pure titanium, so we'll probably have to pull off a full-scale siege if we want to get anywhere. I'm willing to bet some very good money on the possibility that it'll be a very long and bloody trench war. We'll probably have to fight to the death for every single inch of ground we seek to gain from them." Suddenly feeling elated, Vegeta thought, Yes! Here's my chance! I can kill Cell and blame his death on Team Rocket! He then yelled up at her, "Okay, you've convinced us! Who could possibly say no to such an enticing invitation as that one?" The other Saiyans quickly agreed with him on the invitation's inviting nature. They had already been on the receiving end of a major siege from Team Rocket, so they all felt that it would be only fair for them to return the favor to their hated enemy tenfold.   
  
Heartened at her comrades' agreements to join her quest despite the blood and violence that would inevitably follow, Jadeite beckoned to them all and shouted, "Okay, then! There's nothing to it but to do it. Let's go!" The words had barely left her mouth before Kunzite and all the other hybrids joined her in the air. Turning to face toward the large group of Saiyans, she yelled out, "And how about you guys?" Shade was the first one of them to join her in the air, followed closely by Mewtwo. Both Trunks and Gohan felt that they owed her big time for helping them out on that fateful day so very long ago, so they quickly followed Shade and Mewtwo. All the other Saiyans then joined them in a great, wild rush that tore the air into windy shreds. 18 swore loudly and then followed everyone else into the sky. She just couldn't believe that she was actually going to go along with the plan to work with Cell. Vegeta silently led the rest of them onward and upward. He had nothing to say, and no reason to say it. He just wanted to get straight to the fight. Over a hundred furry feline Saiyans, two dozen hybrids, a single Super Saiyan, a pair of reincarnated warlords, untold thousands of little Mews and several abnormally powerful humans flew due southeast toward Australia and what would be their initial confrontation with what would become their ultimate destiny. For the very first time in ever so long, Jadeite was actually truly happy. She was going to fight alongside her childhood heroes! And that wasn't all. She was also really looking forward to testing the very limits of her relatively new hybrid powers. She felt so very happy that she could have just started to sing loudly and dance right then and there. But she was a hybrid, the soul mate of Cell and the foremother of the Saiyans, the Mews and the hybrids as a race. She had her dignity to think of. After all, she was the supreme leader of the whole expedition. When they were completely finished with their huge worldwide war, when they had finally liberated all the Saiyans still held by Team Rocket, then she would let herself sing and dance and party. Right now she just had to fight this war and win it as soon as possible.  
  
It was late in the evening when they arrived on the flat savanna that lay around Ayers Rock. The siege would begin in the early morning, so everyone had to get a good night's sleep. A large series of smallish fires were created from the savanna's dry grasses and the Saiyans and hybrids sat clustered around them for warmth, talking and laughing together about the wildness that would soon come. Only one of them refrained from joining in what would be the last moment of pure pleasure before the war began. Cell stood well outside the ring of light cast by the fires, watching all the others socialize with each other with a sad look on his milk-white face. Jadeite saw his darkened inhuman form looming against the pale moonlight and she left her place with her laughing, happy friends to go to his side. She asked him softly, "What's wrong, Cell?" He gave her a sad, guilty look and gestured toward Mewtwo. "Look at him," he said softly, "You used to be his mate. You mothered his children. And you left him…to come to me. Why is that, Jadeite? Surely I don't deserve the love of a woman of your caliber…the mother of so many new races." He shuddered with the purest pleasure as Jadeite touched his face and replied in a gentle whisper, "And surely you can tell that you do deserve the great love that I feel for you. You…complete me. Without you standing by my side, I am not a whole person. Without you, I am nothing." She slid into his embrace and gently laid her head against his chest. "Cell…" she whispered softly, "I knew I loved you long before I ever met you. I had been waiting all my life…for you. I have known you right from my earliest childhood as I saw your face in my dreams. It's true that I loved Mewtwo, but I always knew deep in the core of my soul that I loved you most. And this change of form only made it a lot easier on me to act on those feelings. As Mewthree I could not show the love that I have always felt for you. As Jadeite I can do as I please." She pulled back just a little bit and looked at him with a small loving smile. The brightly dancing firelight reflecting off of her metallic trefoil dazzled him and also seemed to add to her already great beauty. "This night is still quite young, you know," she said in a gentle voice, "And the whole world at large is ours to roam, so we can go wherever we please." She quietly led him further into the darkness, away from where the others still chatted and played around. Then, spreading her glossy black wings, she leapt into the air and beckoned for him to follow her lead. He did so. Keeping totally silent, she led him through the night sky. They explored the coasts of Australia a little bit, then settled down to relax by a waterfall. Jadeite jumped in and Cell followed her. Soon they were splashing and playing in the water, giggling like children. She splashed him and he splashed her right back. Then they took turns diving down the big waterfall and into the deep blue lagoon that lay right below it. When they tired of doing that, Cell climbed out of the water and lay down on a flat rock. Jadeite came to him and nestled against his chest. Cell hadn't known that such bliss was possible. They breathed together, and their hearts beat as one. She nuzzled up against him and said softly, "Cell, no words can ever describe the love that I feel for you. Wherever you may go, whatever you may do, I will be here for you. Remember that fact, please." She paused for a moment and then said, "I will sing you a song now, Cell. Whenever you're feeling lonely, when you think no one cares about you, remember this song and think of me." She folded her slender hands against her greenish chest and then took a deep breath as her milk-white face relaxed and grew supernaturally calm. She then opened her mouth and emitted a high, lilting series of bell-like notes. The flowing melody resonated in the air and just seemed to hang there, suspended in time. The entire moment froze into a single crystal-clear memory. He smiled at her and she reacted with an even bigger smile. She cuddled in a bit closer to him and then they both fell deeply asleep right then and there.  
  
Morning came quickly. Jadeite awakened to find that she was lying snuggled up against Cell's chest. He was still deeply asleep, smiling as he felt her presence in his dreams. She sat up and looked up at the sky. "Comes the dawn," she said softly. At long last, after so much waiting, the time had finally come to begin the war she had so dreaded. A soft little sigh indicated that Cell had awakened. He sat up and laid his hand on her shoulder. She turned to him, then looked back up at the rising sun. "We have to get back," she said, "Shade and the others are probably already preparing for battle. They need us, Cell." He nodded and stood. She stood as well. Turning away from him, she took a step forward and looked up at the sky. Then she turned to Cell and said urgently, "This is a war, Cell. We may not survive it." He repeated, "War…" The word seemed strangely familiar to him, and its familiarity shook him to the core. She looked down, looking like she was about to cry, and then said to him sadly, "Just one last thing…before we go…" Lunging forward, she snared Cell in a fierce embrace and kissed him full on the mouth. When she pulled back, Cell was practically staring at her cross-eyed. That was a definite first for him. Giggling, Jadeite turned and leapt to the air. "Come on, silly," she shouted to him. Too surprised by her actions to even try to speak, blushing furiously, he followed her.  
  
It was still early morning when they descended on the plain that would soon become a battlefield. The Saiyans and hybrids watched them both descend. As soon as they both landed, Mewtwo and Shade both stormed straight up to them. Shade yelled right in her face, "Where in the heck have you two been?" Jadeite, not reacting to his display of anger, replied simply, in a flat voice, "Out." Smacking himself upside the head with an utterly exasperated groan, he said accusingly, "Fine, then. Be that way." Mewtwo impatiently interrupted, (In case you've forgotten, we have a war to start. Can we cut the inane chatter and just get to it? I want to see Team Rocket go down.) A look of pure bloodlust settled on Shade's face and he hissed lowly, "We'll make them burn!" Across the way, Vegeta saw that and growled in a low, rough voice, "The boy's a true Saiyan, all right. But I still don't see why we Saiyans have to work with these ugly freaks." Jadeite sneered at him and then flipped him the bird. He fairly roared at her and tried to attack her, but several other Saiyans held him back. She stepped up closer to him and then said, "We don't have any time for any of this craziness. We have a war to fight…and win. You appointed me the war leader a long time ago. This is a war. I'm the leader. Fall in!" The Saiyans and the hybrids all lined up in perfect regiments, divided up into groups based on their individual strengths and their special abilities. Then Jadeite grouped everyone in twos, giving everyone a partner to fight alongside. Vegeta, regretfully, had been teamed up with the one person among them all that he had least wanted to ever have to have anything to do with. His battle partner was going to be Cell. He expressed his extreme displeasure with the whole situation loudly and repeatedly until everyone was more than willing to yell at him just to shut him up. Mewtwo and Shade weren't assigned to any group, so they just blew off the idea of soloing and partnered up. Jadeite would be the leader in the coming fight, but she would also go around helping out whatever group seemed to be in need of her aid. She first dismissed all the Mews. They wouldn't participate in the battle. Fairy kittens were never meant to take part in such vile events as war. Under her express orders, the whole flock of Mews returned to Washington D.C in the guise of ordinary pigeons. With all of the little Mews safely out of any and all danger from the upcoming war, Jadeite finally began to lead the army…her army…forward.   



	3. Cell Plays Tarzan! Ever See A Hybrid Cry...

Gohan went Super Saiyan and Vegeta decided to try to access his hidden powers. Krillin teamed up with Yamcha. Tien and Piccolo were both reluctant allies. Just as they had practiced previously, Trunks teamed up with 18. They all moved forward. Leading the line along, Jadeite scanned the area around Ayers Rock and found that the ground had indeed been hollowed out in numerous places. She waved her hand and called out, "Kunzite! Nephrite! Both of you come on over here pronto!" The two hybrid partners just followed her command. She pointed at a spot on the ground and ordered, "Do a double drill beam right there, now." Coming together, they focused their individual energies to form an enormous energy spike, which they then drove straight down into the ground with great force. A tremendous crack appeared along the ground. Jadeite knew that it ran along the top of the underground tunnel that they were trying to enter. She then shouted loudly, "Yo, everyone! I want you to do drill beams along that fault line, now!" Her command was obeyed without any hesitation. Soon the underground tunnel had been split wide open under their powerful group assault. A few of the more adventuresome Saiyans began leaping right down into the tunnel without even being told to do so. Kunzite and Nephrite both quickly followed them inward, jauntily smiling and waving to their mother before disappearing into the deep darkness that lay right beneath the cracked earth.   
  
Jadeite called out to the rest, who were still waiting for her orders, "Mewtwo, Shade, I want you to scan the ground for other tunnels and open them up with drill beams. You Saiyans and hybrids follow them and split up into all of those adjoining tunnels as they're opened. Vegeta, go down into the next tunnel you come to. Cell…you're going to go with Vegeta. Zoisite, you take Malachite and see if you can open a tunnel on the opposite side of Ayers Rock. Krillin and Yamcha, I want you two to follow Zoisite and Malachite. Morganite, you go and see if you can enter through the rock itself. Take Tanzanite with you when you leave. Piccolo, Tien…you go along with Tanzanite and Morganite. Gohan, you're with Mewtwo and Shade to help them with the drill beams. When you're done doing all that other stuff, I want you to follow Tanzanite and Morganite. Calcite, you're coming along with me and we're going to go down here now. Okay, everyone, let's go!"   
Turning without so much as another word, Jadeite beckoned to Calcite and leapt into the tunnel. Calcite waved a hasty goodbye to the others, then quickly turned and followed her in. Saiyans moved, shifted, fired energy beams and yelled all around the both of them. Jadeite pushed her way through the riotous crowd and took her position at the front of the group. Calcite dropped back to the rear of the group, took a few Saiyan volunteers with him and began to blaze a trail down the opposite side of the tunnel. Not too far away from where Calcite had turned back to blaze a second trail through the base, Cell tagged along behind Vegeta without a word. Reckless and cocky as always, the arrogant Saiyan had shoved his way to the front of the group. Cell was the second one in line. Enjoying himself greatly, Vegeta yelled with great glee and blasted everything in sight. Intimidated slightly by all the noise and violence, Cell just quietly watched the Saiyan as he played.  
  
There was a soft sound like a quick, sharp puff of air from somewhere unseen off to the right. A smallish metallic cylindrical object shot out of a small aperture in the wall and located its designated target: Cell. A tiny hypersonic scanner set within it targeted the likeliest area for penetration and then locked a laser tracer beam on the hybrid's thigh. The primary infrared scanner in the wall had detected and locked on to the heat signature of the femoral artery that lay beneath the thinnest part of Cell's armored carapace and it had aimed the object that had been launched out accordingly. Right on target, the object shot toward him and then struck true. Multiple rows of microscopic hooks set along its forward edges caught and held on its target. As soon as it hit, a small separately attached diamond-tipped drill bit automatically began to rotate rapidly within its titanium sheath, drilling a small hole in the hybrid's armor in preparation for the next part of the big plan. At the same time, the inner mechanism prepared to switch over to injector mode and deliver its chemical payload into the target's bloodstream. The quickly spinning drill bit finally broke through the last bit of armor and pierced right into Cell's femoral artery. Simultaneously, it switched into injector mode and quickly began to pump out a strong full-spectrum sedative. Right behind Vegeta, Cell gave a small yelp of pain and surprise as he noticed the smallish cylindrical object protruding from his upper thigh. In a little bit of pain and also very irate, he ripped the offending mechanism, which was still diligently pumping out its chemical payload with the pure single-minded determination that only a machine could ever possess, from its place and prepared to crush it with his bare hands. Just then, the powerful sedative that it had already introduced into his unaware body hit his nervous system like a ton of giant bricks and thusly Cell abruptly lost consciousness.   
  
A rough clatter drew Vegeta's attention away from the great fun that he was having in the fight. He quickly turned around and saw that Cell was now lying limply sprawled out on the floor, and he wasn't moving. Cursing loudly, he stopped the Saiyans' advance and reluctantly knelt beside his partner. A quick examination told him that the fallen hybrid was still quite alive. He noticed a thin little trickle of purplish blood by Cell's leg and found the small puncture wound in his thigh. Noticing that the hybrid held something, Vegeta pried the small metal cylinder out of Cell's limp hand and looked at it curiously. "Now here's an interesting little item if ever I saw one," he said aloud. He considered destroying it just for the heck of it, but then he decided to show it to Jadeite the next time he saw her. Looking back at his fallen partner, he said to himself, "I'm going to hate myself for this in the morning, but I'd better get him out to safety while I still can." Grimacing at having to touch the hybrid he hated so much, he roughly picked Cell up and then lifted up off the floor, soaring over the other Saiyans' heads and leaving through the hole in the tunnel's ceiling. As he soared up, he called to Snowfall, "Yo, cold chick! Link up to wing boy and tell him what just happened here. Tell him to contact our fearless leader and get her to come help this freak out." The furry female replied, "Wing boy? Do you mean Shade? Okay, I'll contact him, Vegeta. You want me to tell him to contact Jadeite, am I right?" He nodded grimly before disappearing into the sky. Closing her eyes, she sent the message. (Yo, Shade, this is Snowfall. Listen. Vegeta told me to send you a message and I'm not about to disobey the King of all Saiyans, so I'm sending you the message that he just gave to me. If you can hear what I'm saying, get the message through to Jadeite fast. Cell's down for the count and he needs her help in a major way. Vegeta's taking him to the surface. Tell her to meet him as soon as she can. If you can't reach her via telepathy, then go find her. This is really urgent, so get going right now.)   
  
In a different tunnel not too far away, Shade received her message. That's just great, he thought angrily, Cell's down. I'd better get going and tell Jadeite. He calmed himself down and stepped away from the wild melee that raged all around him. Closing his eyes, he focused on reaching his sister Jadeite. Pushing any and all distractions out of his mind and away, he called out, (Jadeite. Yo, Jadeite! Snowfall gave me a message from Vegeta and told me to send it to you. Cell's down. Snowfall didn't say why and I doubt Vegeta told her, but she said he needs your help. She also said Vegeta's taking him out to the surface right this instant. He wants you to meet him out there as soon as you can come.)  
  
In yet another distant tunnel, Jadeite lifted her head and listened to her brother's psychic message with a small amount of fear. She then quickly turned to the group of Saiyans following along behind her and said to King Cold, who was following her closely, "I'm transferring leadership to you for now because you're a natural-born commander. You're in charge of the posse who is working in this tunnel now. If you'll excuse me, I really have to get going." Turning away from him, she closed her eyes and brought her slender hand up to touch the smallish metallic trefoil that adorned her emerald-hued brow, and then disappeared with a short rush of shimmering light as she used Instant Transmission.   
  
She didn't really know exactly where she had to go so she just teleported herself straight upward. Less than half an instant later, she found herself floating up high in the clear sky. Taking just a short moment to reorient herself with her new surroundings, she then quickly scanned the ground that lay so far below her. She had long ago found that her new transformation from Mewthree to Jadeite had heightened her five senses even more, and now she was truly thankful for that change. After quite a few absurdly long-seeming moments, she spotted a bright golden flare from a spot down on the distant ground. Folding her glossy black wings against her slim back, she fairly dove downward, following the beacon of light. Pulling up hard just five feet from the ground, she landed gently beside Vegeta, who had become a Super Saiyan and allowed his powerful aura to flare up brighter as a beacon to her. She said to him seriously, "Okay, Vegeta, I got your message. You said that something happened to Cell and that he needed my help. So where is he now?" He replied, turning away from her, "He's right over here." She just followed him silently. He led her into the meager shelter given by a very large boulder.   
Cell lay stretched out in the shade it offered, limp and unmoving. His face was quite calm, as if he were merely sleeping. Jadeite knelt beside him and looked him over with a critical eye. He was breathing just fine and he was also quite uninjured, save for the small puncture wound in his thigh. Turning away from the fallen hybrid, she then said gruffly, "Okay then, Vegeta, spill the beans. What the heck happened to him?" Vegeta replied, "I didn't see it happening. I just turned around and there he was, out cold. But I found him holding this." He handed her the small metallic cylinder he'd pried from Cell's grip. She recognized it immediately, "Wow," she said, "A flip-dart! I heard that these things were proposed as military weapons for covert operations, but Team Rocket actually made some of them! I gotta check this thing out!" Jadeite sat down beside Cell and began to examine it. Using her telekinesis to open it because using her great strength would only break it and ruin her chances for finding out what it was, she cracked it right open and looked at the miniature drill set inside of it. It was able to hover and track its target via infrared. Then she came to the needle inside it. Following along its length, she found where the chemical payload it had carried was kept. There was a slight residue left. She touched it, noting the numb buzz it made her feel. "So," she said frankly, "It slipped him a sedative. There's nothing I can do about that. Cell's probably going to be knocked out like this for several hours, or however long it'll take for him to fully metabolize the chemical. But this is Cell we're talking about here. Knowing him, it'll probably be just a few minutes. However long it takes for him to recover doesn't really matter that much, because he's going to wake up feeling awful. I know all about sedatives and the best-case scenario for this situation is him waking up feeling like somebody shot him out of the sky and stomped on him repeatedly." Almost as if to prove her point, both she and Vegeta almost thought they heard a sound from the one who slept beside them both. The sound came again and this time they knew what it was. A third soft, weak moan came from Cell as he fought his way back to consciousness. Jadeite returned to his side as he stirred slightly. Incredibly weak, he tried to force himself to stand, but he failed and ended up lying flat on his rear. His face twisted in pain and then he complained, "I feel so dizzy."   
  
He stayed down for a couple moments, then tried it again. This time he managed to stand up, wobbling in a major way. Jadeite stood beside him and he held onto her for support, but he collapsed and ended up almost pulling her down on top of him. Bowing his head and closing his eyes, he rested and just breathed. Then he prepared to try it again, but Jadeite held him down. "Hey," she said, "Stay down, Cell. You got it really bad and you can't fight anymore. Just relax." Between harsh breaths, he looked up at her defiantly and panted, "No, I won't be defeated like this. Jadeite, I have to continue the battle. I can't give up." Jadeite frowned and said, "Very well. You give me no choice in the matter, Cell." She laid a hand on his arm and once again reached up to touch her metallic trefoil.   
  
An instant later, they were back at the lagoon by the waterfall, where they had spent the night together. Jadeite turned to him and said, "You are going to stay here." He hissed right back at her, "Like heck I will!" Momentarily losing her temper with him and his defiance, she roughly grabbed his face with both her strong hands and violently forced him to make eye contact with her. A strange sensation flooded through his body and he shivered. "There," she said to him harshly, "Now you have to stay here." Subconsciously reverting back to his old savage ferocity, he roared at her, "What did you just do to me?" She just replied in a cold, flat voice, utterly fearless, "I have telepathically blocked you from flying and using any and all of your hybrid powers. Basically, I fiddled with your brain and gave you all the abilities and basic attributes of a normal human being. You can't fight now. All you can do is karate and hand-to-hand fights, so Team Rocket is way out of your league. Now, if you don't behave yourself like a good little hybrid and promise to stay right here until I come back to release the restraints that I have set on your powers, I shall shut your mind down and make you fall asleep for the duration of the battle. You'll be perfectly fine for however long it takes for us to finish the fight. There's plenty of fresh water and there are all sorts of fruits in the jungle, which is a moot point because I just remembered that you don't need to eat or drink anything. Basically, what I'm saying is that you'll be perfectly fine until I come back. Don't worry and just hang around here a little bit." Grumbling angrily, he slowly settled down. Then, remembering something, he turned back to face her and said in a quavering voice, "But this is war and you may not survive it. You said it yourself, Jadeite. I heard you say it. Don't lie to me. Please." Jadeite smiled at him halfheartedly and replied in a soft voice, "All of my friends are either Saiyans or hybrids. But as for myself, I am a Super Saiyan and a hybrid, possessing the enhanced qualities and the innate abilities of each. Being a Super Saiyan enhances my hybrid powers and being a hybrid enhances my Super Saiyan powers. With such awesome power on my side, how could I ever possibly fail?" Something about the sad look in her eyes made Cell believe that she was lying to him for his benefit. She was heading into extreme danger, there was a good chance that she could die, and she knew it, too. Her composure broke for just a short little moment and she leapt forward to hug him fiercely. She stepped back, waved a jaunty goodbye and then flew away. She quickly disappeared into the high clouds and Cell was left alone with his swirling, turbulent, fearful thoughts. Although he didn't know it, this was actually the first time that he had ever felt fear for anyone else. He thought about Jadeite and the love that he felt for her. He thought of the danger that she was putting herself into and how he couldn't be there for her. It just wasn't fair! He wanted to be there with her…to help her! The burning anger that welled up inside him was an oddly familiar feeling. He found that he had recovered just enough strength to stand up as he bolted to his feet, raised his fists to the sky and shouted out his rage and denial. A sudden wave of pure dizziness and nausea overcame him and then he collapsed to the ground like a ton of bricks, panting harshly. After a few more moments of recovery time, he gingerly stood back up and began to slowly walk into the jungle. He thought to himself, Maybe if I climb up a tree I can see Ayers Rock from here and know which direction I'll have to go to get back to Jadeite and the war. He turned to face the nearest tree and then began to climb up the side of it using the rough bark and dangling vines for support. She could have at least left me my strength, he thought wryly. Soon but not nearly soon enough, he was up at the top of the tree. Looking outward through the highest foliage, he looked all around. There was nothing for hundreds upon hundreds of miles except trees and more trees, but he could faintly see Ayers Rock in the distance. Wow, he thought, That's a long way to go. But Jadeite needs my help and I'll go anyway. Now, should I return to the ground or stay up here and travel this way? He knew nothing of the jungle, but he had seen that the ground was rough and that the huge trees were all interconnected. He could even try swinging on vines! It would be easier to travel via the trees. And it would be fun, too. Descending through the foliage, he smiled. I may not have my great speed, but I still have my agility.   
He found a thick, knotty vine and gave it a couple of quick tugs, then latched on tightly, jumped up and swung out. The swift rush of air against his milk-white face reminded him of flying. Timing everything perfectly, he let go of the vine and just let his momentum carry him to the branch of the next tree. Once he'd landed and gotten his balance, he laughed and exclaimed, "Wow! What a rush! It's totally different from flying!" Then he carefully moved around the tree, found another vine and then repeated the whole process.   
  
Soon Cell was swinging from vine to vine like Tarzan, moving in perfect rhythm as he kept his flawless timing. The miles seemed to be flying by and he was enjoying himself immensely. Gotta admit, he thought to himself, This is the only way to travel. He had been in a few close scrapes with nearby trees and thusly had finally found out exactly why swinging on vines was such a wild and crazy thrill, even for someone like him, who could usually just jump up and fly wherever it was that he wanted to go. It was the sheer risk involved in the practice that made it so very fun, thrilling and all-around alluring. The wild sensation of being mere inches from utter ruin was undoubtedly the ultimate thrill. He would stop periodically and check to see if he was still heading in the right direction, and he always found that he was still right on target. His distance from Ayers Rock seemed to be decreasing by exponential leaps and bounds with every second. Soon he would be back by Jadeite's side, whether she liked it or not. He was enjoying the trip immensely, but his happiness was dampened by pure worry. Would he get there in time to be of any assistance to anyone? Was Jadeite all right? Had the awful battle already ended? He frantically prayed for her safety and sincerely hoped that he would find her standing both unharmed and utterly triumphant at the very heart of the great battlefield.  
  
In time he reached the very edge of the jungle. Now Ayers Rock wasn't too far away. He could see some Saiyans and hybrids milling around and more were emerging from the great cracks they had drilled in the earth even as he watched. Sliding down the tree as fast as he could, he ran out to join them. Vegeta noticed him and stopped him. He said, "I thought our fearless leader took you somewhere far away." Cell replied, "She did. She just didn't count on me being able to make such good time getting back. Where is she, anyway?" For the very first time in all his memory, Vegeta couldn't look him in the eye.   
  
A soft voice called his name and he turned. Shade and Mewtwo had come up behind him. When Cell saw what they were working together to carry, he just about died of sheer horror. Jadeite lay limply in their arms, a dead weight. She wasn't breathing. He felt as if he were moving through thick glue as he rushed to her side. Mewtwo and Shade laid her out on the ground and Cell knelt beside her. Her face was calm and serene, as if she were merely sleeping. A thick stream of purplish blood flowed from both her mouth and her nose, bisecting her serene face and contrasting harshly with the natural milk-white hue. Her armor was broken in many places and in some other places it had been shattered. Her slender hands were completely stained with her own blood, showing him that she had tried to use first aid on herself. But she had failed and now…now… He reached out and shook her slightly, and said in a despairing voice, "Jadeite…" Feeling how cold she had become, he took her in his arms and cried, "Jadeite! Don't give up! Open your eyes!" Shade stepped up beside him and laid a gentle hand on his shoulder, saying, "It's too late, Cell. She's…gone…" Cell flinched under his gentle touch and then choked out, "No…" His coral eyes glittered as he hunched over her and screamed again, his voice hitching in a sob as he cried out, "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" A pale blue light began to slowly pulse along his shivering body. Evidently, his terror and grief had awakened the power that Jadeite had sealed away within him, but he didn't notice it. He concentrated solely on her. He cried her name again, then pleaded in a soft, quivering voice, "Talk to me… Don't leave me!" His shoulders shook as he laid his head on her chest and whispered, "I still have so much I want to tell you…" He tilted his head back and everyone could see the tears that stained his milk-white face. Vegeta stared in shock, thinking, Cell…is crying…   
  
The pale blue light that burned along Cell's body intensified as he closed his eyes and just let it all out. He shone as bright as the sun and Jadeite's corpse slowly began to shine as well, mirroring his own glow. His hand was stained with her blood as he reached up to touch his brow. Then, using Instant Transmission, he disappeared. Jadeite's body still glowed. Everyone heard a huge gasp from the very center of the glow, and it dissipated to reveal that Jadeite was sitting up and looking all around her in a totally confused manner. Shade cried her name and practically tackled her in his wild joy. She gently returned his hug and asked in a soft voice, "What happened?" He babbled, almost crying in joy, "You died, Jadeite! You died! I thought you were gone forever! You died but somehow Cell healed you and brought you back to life!" She heard no more of his words. Having only one thing on her mind, she said, her voice cracking, "Where is he now… Where is Cell?"   
  
Cell had returned to the lagoon by the waterfall, because that was the very last place he had seen Jadeite alive. Kneeling on the flat rock where they had slept together, he stared at his reflection in the water. For a fraction of a moment, it seemed as if another image were overlaid on his face. An image of pure carnage… What was that? He looked back and it happened again. More images flowed before him, and he was in the center of them all. He was viewing his memories, laid out on the stream. The water… And not just the ones he still had. It's flowing backwards… He remembered Jadeite and so much more than the happy times that he'd spent with her. Uncertainty and dread overwhelmed him. Time in reverse… A strange feeling came over him, transfixing him on the spot as he watched the images unfold before him. Memories engraved in the past… His memories passed beyond what he consciously knew to show him the sickening horrors of what he had been and what he had done. The sad past… He remembered the atrocities that he had committed and all the deaths that he had caused. The pain of remembering that tore at his soul. It's all coming back to me… Then the images shifted around to show him engaged in his Wave war against Gohan and then seeing Mewthree and her younger brother joining together with the young Saiyan to fight against him and also defeat him. He felt a moment's anger toward her. Then the images shifted again, to show her smiling down at him. I remember… The memories were very sweet and comforting, and yet they were also sad. The pain they brought to his traumatized heart was terrible. Mewthree… He missed her so terribly, the pain tearing at his heart like a mortal wound to his soul. He had never felt such agony before in all his life, even from life-threatening wounds. My love… She was gone forever and she would never return. That fact made him feel hopeless and suicidal. Jadeite… He sadly looked downward at the purplish blood that still stained his trembling hands. How could this be happening to him? The memories come flooding back to me… The tears flowed freely as he looked upward at the clear sky above his head. That was where he had last seen her, as she flew away to her death. The deep blue sky… He screamed his anger and pain at the heavens, letting his anguished fury loose on anything within range. He no longer cared. The same blue as her eyes when I first met her… He raged at the cruelty of fate and against himself for being so slow in returning to Ayers Rock to help her. How could this be happening? Those blue eyes held such hope and possibilities… Why hadn't he been faster? He hadn't come in time to save her! Maybe he could have saved her life if only he had been a little faster! Now the only one he had ever loved was gone. I used to love looking at her, hoping for a glimpse of her eyes. He remembered those wonderful times and couldn't help but smile. This was how he wanted to remember her, in glorious moments of joy. Those magnificent creatures… They had always amazed him to no end, and she had amazed him most of all. They were remarkable! The Saiyans… He had been so proud to know that he had been created from their DNA. It had been an honor to him, bearing Saiyan genes. And their queen… The first sight of her had struck through his cold exterior and touched his sleeping heart, awakening feelings that he had never thought possible. The strongest and most beautiful one… He remembered her and the feeling of pure awe returned to him, as strong as it had been when he had first felt it. She had been a truly magnificent creature, unlike any other Saiyan he had seen. Mewthree… He also remembered watching her playing around with little Kunzite. The child had loved her so, and so had he right from the start. At night I would seek her out… That one night had been pure heaven, the most wonderful time he could ever remember. Just to see her… Those idyllic times would never come again. His life was barren and cold, and it always would be that way, from that moment on until forever. Mewthree… He remembered all the wild, crazy, euphoric feelings that she had stirred up within him with her mere presence. It was wrong to meet like that… They had been risking so much just being together. Yet that risk had made their love all the sweeter. Love between a Saiyan and a hybrid could never be… The knowledge had torn at his heart, forming a depressing counterpoint to his love for her. Yet his love had continued. It was the way of the world, as we knew it… The danger they had been in when together had been terrible, yet they had still continued their secret meetings. We knew we couldn't let ourselves fall in love… As time passed by, he had realized just how much he had loved her. He was in too deep with her, and he couldn't break free. But it was already too late… He had been willing to dare anything, to do anything, just for her sake. He swore always to be her champion. I remember… His love for her had been so strong and unfading. Yet they had stayed apart, loving each other from afar. We finally found a way to be together… He relived the moment when he realized she was dead and the devastation returned to him afresh. Is this our fate? The sorrow and pain threatened to tear him apart inside. He felt death waiting for him in the very depths of his pain, and he welcomed it. Jadeite… How could he possibly hope to survive without her standing by his side? Did he even want to survive? My love… He curled up into a ball of pure misery, wanting only to give up and die so that he could be with her again. My one and only…  
  
Cell didn't hear the soft rush of air or see the soft shimmering light that marked Jadeite's arrival on the scene via Instant Transmission. She let her hand drop from her brow, noticing that she was now completely clean. The bloodstains that had covered her armor were totally gone. Her milk-white face was completely shadowed and her emerald-hued armor blended in perfectly with the dappled greenish colors of the silent, sunlit jungle. She saw Cell sitting huddled by the lagoon and her heart leapt up into her throat at the sight of him. She took a single small step forward, the sound of her very slight movement echoing loudly in the still silence of the forest. Cell slowly turned around to face her, and she started in shock at the sight of his cold, dull eyes. He looked as if something had sucked the life right out of his body, leaving behind only an empty shell of what he had once been. He looked like his soul was dead, but his body hadn't yet accepted its fate.   
  
For a terribly long moment, he didn't seem to really notice her presence, looking right through her as if she wasn't really there. Then he actually saw her and his sad, lifeless face lit up with wild, disbelieving joy. He softly spoke her name and she nodded to him very slowly. A single short moment later, Jadeite found herself caught up in a huge hug. "…Jadeite…" Cell clung to her tightly and she slowly sank down to sit on the ground with him practically lying on her lap. His whole body shook violently as he buried his face against her shoulder. "…Oh God, Jadeite…" She just held him and gently stroked his back as he shuddered in her arms. After a while, she began to feel a little bit of very slight moist warmth from where Cell still rested his head against her shoulder. Jadeite recognized it and thought incredulously, He's crying. Cell, the merciless bioweapon, is lying in my arms and crying his heart out… As a child, I never dreamed of seeing this. She just continued to gently stroke his spasmodically shivering back as she whispered soft, comforting words to him. His wild, frantic sobs began to subside as he slowly began to calm down and relax. His grip on her eased and she continued to gently caress his back as his breathing slowed and he slid down to fall asleep with his head lying on her lap. As he fell asleep in her arms, she began to sing to him softly, a song of reassurance and undying, eternal love. She gently touched his sleeping face, the sorrow and hurt finally erased from his handsome milk-white features. The long day's wild, stressful activities finally caught up with her and she too fell asleep, slowly slipping down to lie cheek to cheek with the only one she ever truly loved. Together once again, they both just rested.  
  
Everyone was frozen for a few long minutes after Jadeite's sudden departure from the scene via Instant Transmission. Mewtwo was shocked to see her disappear. Shade and Vegeta were shocked by Cell's display of emotion. They were both more accustomed to him being a cold, heartless hybrid. But Shade's life had been wild and strange before, so he was much more accustomed to unexpected weirdness than Vegeta was. He recovered from the shock of watching her vanish and told the watching hybrids to go find her in the morning. When morning came, they would all use their special abilities to track Jadeite's life force and use Instant Transmission to reach her. Until then, they would hang around. Kunzite volunteered to lead them and the others agreed, since he was the oldest of them.  
  
The morning came gradually, tinting the lagoon with the rosy colors of the early dawn. A single pair of coral eyes opened as Jadeite awakened and looked up at the morning sky. Cell stirred in her arms with a soft little yawn. A moment later he extricated himself from her arms, then lazily stretched and stood up. She stretched as well. Then there were a great many short rushes of shimmering light as multiple hybrids hit the scene via Instant Transmission. Kunzite led them all. Seeing their parents there, the hybrids relaxed and quickly took to playing in the lagoon just as Cell and Jadeite had done the previous night. They splashed and played in the lagoon and also took turns diving down the waterfall. Jadeite and Cell sat off to the side and just let their children play in the water. They were perfectly content to just sit back and watch them at play. Then Jadeite's ability to sense life force alerted her to the arrival of a new presence in the vicinity of where she had left her friends around Ayers Rock. It was very powerful; much stronger than Cell and quite close to the level she was on, but she didn't really sense that it could be much of a threat. It intrigued her to no end and it seemed almost familiar in that it felt almost like Gohan. This new presence, she thought, It's so strong and it feels almost like Gohan. Could it be…him? Hopping up to her feet, she shouted, "Hey, everyone! Let's get going!" Cell stood up in a hurry and the other hybrids leapt out of the water on her command. They congregated around her and waited to hear what it was that she wanted all of them to do.   
  
Obliging them with a smile, she said, "We're going to go back to Ayers Rock. I feel a new presence there. It's very strong and it could do some serious damage if it wanted, but I don't think it means us any harm. I think… I think it may be Goku." Cell repeated the name and then confessed to Jadeite in a wild rush of words, "I remember everything. I understand it now. This must be why Vegeta hates me so. And why Gohan feared me at first. 18 spoke of me having done something terrible and now I know what it was. God, I… I cannot believe the things I have done!" Jadeite replied, "It's all in the past, Cell. All of it's in the past. When we meet up with Goku, I'm quite sure he'll understand that." Taking heart from her reassuring words, Cell decided to follow along with her plan. She turned to face the other hybrids and said, "We're leaving here now, everyone. Cell, I want you to use Instant Transmission to get there. You tell the others that we're coming because we'll be along in just a few minutes. Everybody else, we're going to be flying there. Let's get going, shall we?" Jadeite and all the others leapt to the air in rapid succession as Cell crouched down low, brought a slender milk-white hand up to his emerald-hued brow and then quickly vanished in a short little rush of shimmering light.  
  
Gohan hugged his father tightly as Goku told him how very proud he was of how he had fought Cell. Vegeta stood some distance off to the side and watched the two with a fake glower. Somewhere below his surly attitude, he thought, It is…good to have you back, Kakarrot. As for Trunks, he was just happy to be around his childhood hero. Tien, Yamcha and Krillin were very glad to have Goku back. 18 seemed rather nervous around him. After all, she'd tried to kill him. The other Saiyans were amazed at his high power level. Little Freezer was terribly frightened of him while his father King Cold was fascinated by his sweetly innocent yet undeniably charismatic personality. Everyone then gave a wild start as an ominously familiar silhouette began to materialize off to the side.   
  
The person was down in a low crouch facing away from them. As they all watched in awe, familiar details slowly became evident. A high double crest. Big glossy black wings. Milk-white hands. A pale ivory face adorned with twin streaks of the deepest indigo. A tall, strong body clad in mottled dark green armor. Coral eyes. Yellow feet. Goku's dark eyes went wide and he gasped in shock as Cell turned his head to look up at him and then slowly stood up, turning around to face him. He looked over at the Saiyan uncertainly and said in a soft, unsure voice, "Goku?" Rapidly recovering from the sheer shock caused by his mortal enemy's sudden arrival on the scene, Goku quickly powered up to become a Super Saiyan and then savagely attacked the hybrid just as fast as he possibly could. Cell didn't even bother to perform a counterattack, just cringing and shielding his face with his hands as his enemy charged at him with a wild yell of the purest anger and hatred. Goku didn't even bother to notice that Cell was merely taking the punishment that he was dealing out as he began to viciously beat the disoriented, frightened hybrid in a wild, insane flurry of powerful punches and kicks. He just took the fact that Cell wasn't even trying to fight back as meaning that the hybrid recognized that Goku had grown much stronger and now figured that it was useless to try to fight back against him. He just figured that Cell had given up the fight and was now simply waiting to die by his hand.  
  
This isn't right! Cell clumsily leapt backward, away from the angry Goku. It hurts so badly… Bruised, battered and bloodied, he held his injured arm and glared over at his foe with a quiet look of frightened, angry confusion. But Jadeite said he'd understand. Wavering on his feet and breathing heavily, he appeared to be struggling just to remain standing. He won't even give me time to explain. He took a few unsteady steps backward, a desperate look of fear and dread shining in his coral eyes, then gingerly released his injured arm with a soft little hiss of pain and slowly, shakily reached up to touch his bloody brow. I have to get out of here! But before he could use Instant Transmission to escape from the scene and get to safety, his jaw dropped and his eyes slowly glazed over. Such pain! He gagged and coughed wetly, convulsing weakly as he alternately fought for air and cried out in supreme pain. Oh, God! Feeling like he was either suffocating or just plain dying, he began to go limp. God, help me! Was this going to be the end for him?   
  
Goku stifled a sudden feeling of pure pity for his most hated enemy as he dug his fist just a little bit deeper into Cell's violently heaving abdomen. The hybrid frantically fought for air and finally swatted Goku as hard as he could before he collapsed to his hands and knees, gasping for breath and vainly trying to regain at least some of his lost strength. He only tried to stand up once. It was all he could do to stay on hands and knees and not fall. Everything was spinning and he felt like he was either going to faint or fall down dead. Finally giving in to the fierce rage he felt toward Cell for having met death at the hybrid's hands, Goku marched up and kicked Cell in the ribs. The hybrid gave a weak little yelp of pain, coughed up a small pool of purplish blood and fell face down in the dust. Goku glared down at Cell as he panted and tried to gather his strength. All the Saiyans stared at Goku. Gohan was shocked at his father's savagery. Vegeta was very amazed to see such nasty behavior from Goku. Kakarrot sure has changed a lot, he thought, Now he's a true Saiyan and I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. Krillin was entirely consumed with pity and concern for Cell, but he didn't know what he could do to help. Tien and Yamcha were both very shocked to see such nasty behavior coming from Goku. 18 counted her blessings that Goku's anger wasn't directed toward her. And as for Trunks, he was just dismayed at the behavior of his childhood hero. No, he thought, Goku isn't like this!  
  
After taking a great deal of sadistic pleasure in Cell's pain and suffering, Goku reached down, grabbed the hybrid by the throat and roughly hauled him up. The hybrid dangled in his grasp, the grip Goku had on his throat the only thing supporting him. A thick stream of purplish blood flowed from the corner of his mouth as he looked up at Goku with an expression of fearful, confused hatred. Goku sneered at him and said, "After what you've done, after all the people you've killed…including me… Cell, now you will surely die!"   
The hybrid's coral eyes widened with fear as Goku raised his fist and prepared to punch through one of the cracks he'd made in the armor covering Cell's chest, over his rapidly pounding heart. Cell would surely die if he did that, and the hybrid knew it. Realizing that his life was in very immediate danger, Cell desperately lashed out, grabbed Goku's arm and held back the blow that had been meant to kill him. Angered at being stopped, Goku tightened his grip on the hybrid's throat and began to strangle him. Too weak to continue to fight back, Cell gave Goku one final defiant glare as he prepared to die. Sickening wet sounds gurgled from deep within Cell's throat as his struggles slowly began to weaken. Fantastic colors, bright lights and deep darkness danced around in Cell's field of vision. The mad Saiyan laughed with bloodlust, enjoying each moment…   
  
Then he found himself being thrown through the air in much pain. People he couldn't see moved around behind him as a female voice rapped out a series of commands in quick succession. "Zoisite! Malachite! Nephrite! Kunzite! Keep a firm hold on Goku and don't let him escape! Tanzanite, Morganite, you tell those Saiyans to get back! We need some room to work here! Mewtwo, Shade, you help Zoisite, Malachite, Nephrite and Kunzite with Goku! Calcite, I need your help right here!" Another voice called out; "You got it, Jadeite!" Eight strong hands lifted Goku to his feet and he opened his eyes to look around. Four hybrids restrained him and he couldn't break free of their strong grip. Two more hybrids were keeping a group of furry catlike creatures from getting in any closer. Turning in place, he then saw that another hybrid was now crouched over the fallen Cell. He had to look away as a blinding light blue glow built and died around the two of them. When he looked again, yet another hybrid was helping Cell to stand. The one who had healed Cell walked up to him. The metallic trefoil adorning its brow flashed in the sunlight. When it spoke, he knew it was a female. "Release him," she said, "He's mine." The four hybrids that held him obediently let him go and they all just stepped backward.   
  
She stepped closer, towering over him despite his tallness, and said, "My name is Jadeite. I, not Cell, am the leader of the hybrids, and of the Saiyans you see around you. Yes, the furry feline creatures are Saiyans. They are specimens of the new breed. And as for you, Goku… You just tried to kill my husband!" She lunged forward and slapped him across the face with all her formidable strength. He fell then leapt back to his feet with a growl. Across the way, Vegeta watched and thought, He's in blood rage. This really isn't good. Man, I think I preferred the old, naive Kakarrot. He was distracted by the sound of a soft little growl from beside him. Little Freezer was trembling and hissing at Goku fiercely. Was the child still angry with the Saiyan for how his former life had ended? A great shout distracted him from looking at the child and he saw Goku attacking Jadeite. The hybrid wore a confident smirk as she dodged every attack he sent her way. He was giving her all that he had, and he couldn't even touch her. She was a lot stronger than Cell was!   
  
She let him try for a while, then tossed him away with a simple flick of her wrist. He jumped back to his feet and prepared to attack her again, but he was startled into immobility as a small white blur passed between him and his foe. A small white-furred kitten with deep purple markings stood between Goku and Jadeite. The child gave him a withering glare and lisped, "I've been waiting for this day. The day when I will have my revenge on you for what you did to me!" That snapped Goku right out of his blood rage. He said, "What I did to you? Kid, I don't even know you!" The kitten sneered and replied in a cold voice, "Don't you? Have you so soon forgotten?" His lisp disappeared and his soft child's voice hardened into the deepened voice of an adult as he snarled, "Well, I remember. I remember what you did. Have you really forgotten the battle that took place on the dying planet so very long ago? Have you forgotten how I died by your hand?"   
  
Taking a wide-legged stance in preparation for a fight, the kitten gave a war cry as he summoned up his power. Goku and the rest watched as the child's inner energy traced lines of white light along his tensed-up body. The lines came together and merged until a shining outline was all that was visible of the little child. Krillin, Yamcha, Tien, Piccolo, Vegeta, Gohan and Goku himself had a simultaneous flashback as a terrifyingly familiar voice roared, "Ultimate Transformation!" The child's blazing form began to change. His height more than doubled from two feet to a full five as his limbs lengthened and became much stronger. His pudgy, furry little tail grew longer, thinner and a lot more muscular. His legs took on a more human structure, the space between the knees and ankles lengthening as his feet grew smaller. He held up both his paws as they changed from three-fingered paws to slim yet strong five-fingered hands. His profile changed as his ears shrank away into nothingness and his face changed from its normal feline configuration to become more human. Then the burning light dissipated, revealing a creature that was so different from the little kitten that had begun the transformation that it was hard to believe that what had just appeared was actually the very same person who had started it.   
  
The first difference everyone noticed was that the feline Saiyan had taken on reptilian characteristics. Slanted crimson eyes fixed on Goku and narrowed angrily as absurdly delicate-looking features twisted into a hateful sneer. A reptilian tail swished agitatedly. Glassy deep purple markings glittered forth from the forehead, shoulders, chest, forearms and lower legs. Glossy jet-black lips curved downward in an angry frown. Small hands curled into fists while a slender little white body dropped down into a wide-legged ready stance, two avian three-toed feet seeking and finding traction in the grassy savanna earth. A deep, husky voice growled, "Well… Shall we get started?" Jadeite took a small step back, her coral eyes widening with shock, and whispered, "Holy cow! Frieza?" Hearing that hated name spoken broke Goku out of his horrified trance. He smiled a fake smile and then said, "From what I just saw, Frieza, you won't be too hard for me to handle. Despite that big, flashy transformation, you're still just a little child." The resurrected former tyrant smirked at him evilly and chuckled in a soft, low voice, then replied smugly, "Guess again, monkey boy. I'm better than I was before." Goku looked at him dumbly and then said in a flat tone, "Better?" "Stronger," Frieza clarified, "Your son trained me in his techniques, as did Vegeta. I watched the Saiyans in action and paid close attention to the hybrids as they did their thing. I just so happen to have picked up a little something that'll floor you. Why don't you let me show you?" The last words were shouted as the resurrected changeling leapt straight up into the air and floated high overhead. He brought his hands together as if in prayer, closed his eyes and concentrated. It soon became evident what he was concentrating on as his energy focused between his hands. He gave an abrupt, stentorian shout as he tossed a short red-hued laser beam straight up into the air. Goku watched with confusion as Frieza shot up into the air and intercepted the blast that he had launched. The air rang as he shouted out, "Ice blade!" Then he actually grabbed the laser beam. It solidified in his hand and changed color to become a glowing deep blue spear. He hefted the spear he'd just made from laser light and deftly twirled it. The air froze behind it as it spun. Goku looked on with shocked horror. Frieza grinned at that as he twirled in midair with the spear, rapidly feinting and jabbing at the air before ending in a dynamic pose. "That was quite enough showing off from me," he said, "Now, on to the main event! Here's looking at you, monkey boy!"   
  
Goku didn't have time to react and was way too scared to even try as Frieza attacked. He quickly found out that the changeling had indeed become much stronger. He couldn't even touch Frieza as the transformed child beat him down. Then he found himself on the ground with Frieza on top of him, the frigid spear held against his throat. The changeling met his frightened gaze with a cold glare. Then a voice called out; "You did it, Freezer! Congratulations on your first transformation!" Frieza jumped at the sound of that voice. There was a loud pop, followed by a bright flash and Frieza was gone. A small kitten crouched on top of him, regarding him with large, innocent eyes. The kitten cried in a squeaky voice, "Daddy!" Then the little kitten jumped off of him and scampered away.   



	4. Frieza A Saiyan?!?!?!?! Flashback! 17 Hi...

He would have followed the child if Jadeite hadn't marched right up to him, grabbed him by the throat and roughly hauled him up to her eye level. She glared at him angrily and then snarled in his face, "Curse it all to heck and back several times, Goku, you really should think before you act! There was a reason for Cell's actions back there! Didn't you take the time to notice that he wasn't fighting back? Now, you better listen up or else I'll hurt you or something! Cell lost his memory when Gohan beat him that time so long ago! He didn't remember anything. Techniques, powers, abilities, goals, past deeds…all of it was completely gone! I had to teach him how to fly all over again!" Goku repeated, "He lost his memory?" Jadeite replied, "You better believe it, dude. Even his personality has changed." The Saiyan asked, "How exactly has he changed?" The female hybrid stepped closer and answered, "He's very kind and gentle, for one thing. It's really hard to believe that this same hybrid once tried to destroy the Earth. He's a nice fellow, and he means well. You know how he was one heck of a butt-kicker? Well, he's lost that. I mean, he's lost the instinct for battle. If I didn't know any better, in that I knew that he had acquired a true peace-lover's spirit, I'd swear that he didn't have the nerve to fight. But he's kept the capability in one respect. He's very protective of his family." Goku had started to look severely constipated about halfway through her speech. He repeated, "His family? Cell has a family? The one who killed me and so many others now has a wife and kids?" Jadeite replied, "Darn straight he does. You see all those hybrids standing right over there? They're all his sons. And as for his wife…well, you're looking at her." Her eyes narrowed warily and she sneered at him sarcastically, "I hope you don't mind if I keep a close watch on you from now on so you don't go postal on my husband again." Goku quickly agreed to leave Cell alone from then on, not wanting to be pounded into pudding by a large group of angry hybrids. But he still had some questions. He asked, "Cell had seven little duplicates of himself when he killed me. Are those kids around here somewhere?" Jadeite replied, "You better believe they're all here. Hey over there, guys! Kunzite! Malachite! Zoisite! Nephrite! Calcite! Tanzanite! Morganite!" Seven tall, handsome adult hybrids stepped forward. Jadeite gestured toward them and said, "Here they are. The little children grew up, Goku." The Saiyan cut in, "Speaking of children…"   
He abruptly lost interest in her, turning away from her and walking off. He wandered into the milling crowd of feline Saiyans, searching for something. After pushing through the crowd, he found what he was looking for. King Cold cradled little Freezer in his arms while Snowfall lovingly gazed down at their young son. Goku let his expression harden as he walked closer and looked at the little kitten as he slept in his father's loving arms.   
  
King Cold saw him and cast a glare in his direction. He remembered what the Saiyan had done to his son in his previous life. The kitten had been born with mysterious markings on his skin, which were mostly hidden by his fur. King Cold knew that those markings were in the same places where his son had been cut after being tricked in battle against Goku. He had been cleaved across the chest and left arm and in several places along his tail. The kitten still had nightmares about it sometimes. And he was having one now…  
  
Frieza hid his desperation and his stark terror behind a wall of burning rage as he darted across the sky. The Super Saiyan evaded his every attack with the greatest of ease, yet he didn't strike back. Was this impudent little creature mocking him? Fool! No one taunts me and lives! Frieza's rage doubled and he tripled the fury of his attack. Screaming scathing obscenities and challenges, he formed a cutting disk and sent it right at his foe. He avoided it with ease, but it chased him across the sky. Try getting away from THAT, you stupid monkey. Frieza looked around at all the volcanic geysers as they spewed molten lava high into the air. The planet would explode soon and he didn't want to be on it when it did. He was running out of time to firmly defeat the Super Saiyan and flee from the area. I'm severely running out of time here. Looks like I have to kick this battle up a notch or three. Here's another cutting disk for you to play with, monkey boy! The Super Saiyan then had two deadly cutting disks hot on his trail, and yet he didn't look frightened in the least. He didn't even seem to care about the cutting disks. What a stupid monkey! He doesn't even know when to give up or be scared! But the Super Saiyan appeared to have a plan in mind as he abruptly changed the direction of his flight. What the- He's flying right AT me! There was a blur of bright golden light, a loud rush of air, and then suddenly the Super Saiyan was hovering in place right behind him. Right PAST me… Frieza just stared at him, confused. What's he trying to pull? Then he heard a queer hissing whistle from behind him. It can't be… He whirled in place and saw the two cutting disks he'd made still diligently chasing the Super Saiyan…but HE was in their way! There was no time for him to react to that knowledge, to even try to get clear of them, as both the cutting disks swept through the air and through him as well. THE PAIN! A huge swath of fiery pain cut through his abdomen, and through his left arm just below the shoulder. He was barely aware of it when he hit the ground, grimacing and moaning in sheer pain as he tried to figure out just how badly he was hurt. I can't feel my left arm or anything below my waist. He felt a presence nearby and a voice spoke to him. "You're beaten, Frieza. Goodbye." It took all his strength just to open his eyes. Straining to look up, he could just barely see the Super Saiyan standing over him. Vainly fighting for air, feeling his life ebbing away with each passing second, Frieza knew that this was the end for him. "…Help…me…" He just barely heard a soft, weak, gurgling voice struggling to choke out a desperate plea for help. "…Please… You can't…just leave me…like this…" Someone out there was begging for mercy. That voice sounds very familiar to me for some strange reason. Why in the heck can't I identify it? He tried to think. Come on, Frieza! Think! You know this voice! Just ignore the pain and think! The pain was just too great for him to even try to think about anything. "…Mercy…" It clouded his mind and made it almost impossible to think. A second voice said, "Did you show mercy to Krillin or Piccolo? Did you show mercy to the untold thousands who owe their untimely deaths to you? Those who don't give any mercy don't get it in return." That weak voice I keep hearing… That can't be…me? That fact really knocked him for a loop. Maybe the terrible pain drove me nuts. He just couldn't believe what he was doing. "…Forgive…me…" All was silent. Frieza began to fear that the Super Saiyan had indeed left him for dead. He feared dying, but his greatest fear by far was dying alone. Then he felt a surprisingly gentle touch on his violently heaving back. He just barely managed to open his eyes and look up at the Super Saiyan, who had knelt and placed a hand on his back. A bright yet pale whitish light forced Frieza to close his eyes. It's warm… What in the heck was the Super Saiyan going to do to him now? His dark, whirling, frantic thoughts slowly became clearer. The pain is lessening… His weak, labored breathing gradually slowed and evened out as what little remained of his tortured body relaxed. I can breathe again… Suddenly, the possibility of untimely death felt just a little bit farther away. All of a sudden I don't feel so weak… Was that what the Super Saiyan had done? Stronger, he raised his head and looked at the Super Saiyan, who looked at him. Seeing the confusion in his adversary's eyes, the Super Saiyan said, "I just gave you some of my own life energy. I suggest you use it to escape." Frieza looked down at himself. There was nothing left of him below his waist, and his left arm was gone below the shoulder. His composure slipped at the sight and for a short moment he gave the Super Saiyan a look of pure anguish. I can't return to my father looking like this. I can't let him see my shame. Then he recovered his cold, angry composure. "I don't want to live like this…" he whispered. No, I will die in battle! Then he screamed it at the Super Saiyan, who was just starting to fly away, "I DON"T WANT TO LIVE LIKE THIS!" The Super Saiyan quickly turned to face him as Frieza screamed, "Curse you, monkey! I don't WANT to escape OR survive! Why didn't you kill me? I wanted you to kill me!" With that, he gathered the small amount of life energy the Super Saiyan had given him along with what remained of his own and threw it at the Super Saiyan. My last act… The last thing he saw was the Super Saiyan deflecting the energy.   
  
He had no idea how long he floated in the debris field that was all that remained of the dead planet. I'm so glad I can breathe in space… Consciousness came and went. He noticed that his periods of consciousness were shortening and he was weakening rapidly. Father… His mind was wandering aimlessly. It wouldn't be too long now. He imagined the faces of his father, his mother and his older brother. He would never see them again. I want to die…but I also want to live. God, am I going to die completely confused? In his slowly dimming mind, he said his final farewells to them all, and to his sadly truncated life. God… The dim thoughts that sluggishly oozed their way through his dying mind were utterly alien to him. If there is a God… He was doing something that he had never thought that he would ever end up doing. Please… The great and terrible Frieza, lord of all destruction, the master of the universe, was actually praying. If you would listen to one such as me… If he hadn't been dying in extreme agony, he would have been embarrassed to show weakness. If you would feel anything but hatred toward me after the things I have done… But he didn't really care at that point. Then help me… It was getting harder to breathe as what remained of his strength slowly diminished to ridiculously low levels. Help me… Soon he would be too weak to even breathe. Don't let it end this way… This wasn't the proper way for a powerful warlord like him to meet his end. Not like this… He was supposed to meet his death in battle, showing the Universe as a whole the true power that he possessed. I don't want to die like this… He had no hope; yet he continued to pray because it was something to do to keep his mind off the pain. Stop the pain… Stark terror burned at the very heart of his deep black despair. Please… He really didn't want to die. Please don't let me die this way… He wanted to continue to live, but he didn't see how he could survive this. God… Was this the end?  
  
Then he felt it. Something strangely familiar was coming his way. He opened his eyes, by far the most demanding effort he could ever remember in his entire life, and looked off to the side. A relatively large round blue and white spaceship was coming his way. I must be hallucinating. That can't be…Father's ship? He was so engrossed in looking at it that he failed to notice that it had become nearly impossible for him to breathe. I can feel his power. Father's here! He's come for me! Frieza almost didn't notice it when he stopped breathing. But he knew that the peaceful darkness that lurked at the edges of his awareness meant certain death. Too late… Father came…too late… NO! Help me, Father! He forced himself to draw in full, deep breaths despite the weakness and the terrible pain, tenaciously clinging to life through sheer willpower. Look at me, Father. I'm holding on. Father, can you see me now? Are you proud of me, Father? Are you proud of your second child? He struggled to remain conscious, feeling his erratic heartbeat weakening and slowing with each passing second. Please hurry, Father. I can't hold on much longer. Everything slipped away into a bottomless void. It was over. So this is how it ends… He was sure of it. Fatally weakened by blood loss… There would be no coming back. And suffocated in outer space … He was surely doomed.  
  
He first felt he was lying in soft white light. Am I dead now or was it all just a dream? The soft white light became a harsh glare as reality fairly slapped him in the face. Man, what a hangover this is. I think I've been hitting the old wine bottle a little too hard as of late. He sat up and put his hand to his head. No, it wasn't a dream. I wouldn't feel this awful if it was a dream. A strange, buzzing voice emitted a low, wordless moan. What the heck was that strange sound that I just heard? Frieza then realized something major. Wait just a darn minute. I'm sitting up. How can I be sitting up if I don't have anything below my waist except air? He slowly opened his eyes and looked around, disoriented and confused. He was lying in his father's ship, in the emergency room. He tried to speak, but instead that strange buzzing sound came again, "What happened to me?" He jumped in shock and then put a hand to his throat, confused and startled. He looked down at himself. Holy cow! When did I get turned into a cyborg? A strange sort of sixth sense alerted him to a familiar presence nearby. He looked up and saw the tall, strong changeling with horns and a cape staring down at him. Father. Frieza composed himself, pushing away his horror and shock. Putting on his customary evil smirk, he turned to face a nearby henchman and ordered sharply, "Set a course for Earth." King Cold interrupted, "Why do you want to go to that backwater dump?" He replied, "I would like to blow it up." Hiding his relief at seeing his injured son acting normal, his father gruffly seconded his order and the ship began to head for Earth.  
It took a couple weeks to get there. Why did you do this to me, Father? Frieza spent most of that time sulking pensively and contemplating his new semi-cybernetic condition. I don't want to be like this… He morosely practiced with his new abilities and found that he could achieve power levels far higher than he ever had been able to reach before. But that new discovery was soured and turned to an insult by the unshakable knowledge that it had just been given to him. I would have much rather reached that level on my own as myself the way I originally was, instead of becoming this…this mechanized freak! There were times when he wished that he had died instead of being rescued and rebuilt by King Cold and his henchmen. I deserve to die. I don't want to be like this…  
  
Frieza challenged the lavender-haired Super Saiyan to a solo fight for a secret reason. He knew that he would lose, but he wanted to die. I don't want to be like this! And he purposely left himself open for the killing blow. It must have confused the Super Saiyan when he smiled as the sword penetrated his vitals. As he fell, he heard King Cold cry his name. Humph. Didn't think you cared, Father. The Super Saiyan then turned to face Frieza's father. That simple movement terrified him to no end. No! I didn't want this! He feebly grabbed the Super Saiyan's ankle and gasped, "…Please…don't hurt…my father…" The Super Saiyan kicked him away. He then heard a snarl of animalistic rage from his father. "HOW DARE YOU TREAT MY SON THAT WAY!" Groaning from the exertion and the pain it caused him, Frieza turned to face his father. King Cold's horns glittered in the bright noon sunlight as he charged the Super Saiyan full on. In that single short moment, there was no such thing as right and wrong, or good and evil. There was only a father protecting his fallen son. The moment ended with a silver streak through the air as the Super Saiyan used his sword. No! Frieza gave a strangled cry of horror as a plume of dark blood sprayed from the gash in his father's throat. Father, no! King Cold emitted a hideous sound that would haunt the Super Saiyan for the rest of his life as he stared at his murderer in pure shock, clutched at his torn throat, then collapsed and breathed his last.   
  
An equally awful sound came from behind. Father… The Super Saiyan turned and saw that Frieza was standing. He had a look of agony on his face as he staggered closer. His arms were crossed over the wound in his chest. The air reeked of charring blood as sparking circuitry seared the blood that flowed over it. The Super Saiyan moved to strike, but stopped. Frieza was doomed, dying on his feet as he tried to reach his father. The Super Saiyan watched with pure pity as Frieza collapsed and died by his father's side.   
  
Little Freezer abruptly awakened in his father's arms with a high, terrified squeal. Goku hopped backward as the kitten started crying hysterically and asked frankly, "What was that?" King Cold glared at Goku and replied coldly, "A nightmare…about you." Snowfall stepped in and said, "Goku, I hope that you will become friends with my son. He needs guidance and he needs to stop being afraid of you." Goku blinked once and replied, "But he's…" Snowfall cut in, "I know. This is his second life, but his first real childhood. The first Frieza wasn't born evil. I'm truly sorry to say that we both had a part to play in that. I don't want it to happen ever again. I haven't even told him what he really is yet. I fear what'll happen once he finds out that he too is a Saiyan." That last bit of information convinced Goku. The Saiyan asked, "What was up with that wild transformation?" King Cold replied, "Oh, you mean the technique that can only be used by the Winter Force? We call it Ultimate Transformation and we can do it because all of us were of the same species as Frieza in our past lives." Goku asked again, "The word in the afterlife was that Frieza had an older brother. Is that true?" Snowfall nodded and answered, "It's true. His name is Cooler, he's still alive, and I'm willing to bet that he took over King Cold's empire after he was killed." King Cold interrupted, "Not only that, but he's older and stronger than we are in our present forms. We'd have to pull off a group Ultimate Transformation just to match up against him. I'm so glad that he's not here right now."   
  
Suddenly having a flash of insight, Goku said, "So that's who that is!" Snowfall asked, "Who do you mean?" Goku explained, "As you know, I spent a bit of time being dead. The afterlife was totally abuzz with news when I left to return to life. The air was fairly crackling, ringing with the same five words over and over again. Cooler is coming to Earth. Until now, I didn't know what that meant, or what we were up against. But now I know. Brother of Frieza…firstborn son of King Cold…heir to a vast empire… He's coming." Snowfall turned away with a small gasp. She whispered, "I'm going to have to fight my son…" Then she repeated herself, only she screamed it the second time around.   
  
Practical as always, King Cold walked up to Jadeite and told her about the threat that was rapidly approaching. Knowing for a fact that there wasn't really all that much time for them to get ready for the oncoming threat, Jadeite quickly made a snap decision, "We have to finish rescuing the Saiyans first, so our forces will be stronger. The Winter Force will be the front vanguard when we do face him, seeing as how they can all transform." She turned away from him, floated up to hover over everyone's heads and called down to all of them, "Okay now, folks! Listen to me now! Our timetable has just gotten severely stepped up and we have to hurry it up to the tenth degree! Everybody got that? We have no time to waste so I'm only going to say this to you guys just this once and not again! Here's our new game plan as I see it, so everyone listen up and don't forget what I'm going to say to you next! Whenever we reach a new Team Rocket base, Mewtwo and Shade will link their minds together as one to teach the Saiyans hidden within how to make a very powerful group psychic shield. When they know how to do that and when they do so, we will all use our powers to their utmost limit and blow up the whole base all around them!" If Vegeta had found the prospect of a major siege enticing, then he just couldn't resist the prospect of a full-scale kamikaze assault of truly epic proportions. He, for one, couldn't wait to get started, so he got all the other Saiyans to start cheering too.   
  
The next nine days passed by in a wild, insane blur of roaring fire, violent fighting and huge explosions. Pushing their powers to the very limit, the rapidly growing Saiyan posse hit a new Team Rocket base every day. Krillin had been shell-shocked right from day one. Tien just plain couldn't believe what he was doing. 18 seemed to be having a grand old time. Just like the old days with 16 and 17, she thought with a wistful smile. Gohan was just happy to have his dad back. Goku spent most of his time thinking about the threat that was rapidly approaching. Piccolo vehemently wished that he were somewhere else. Trunks hated every single minute of it. Yamcha just felt like screaming. Vegeta was like a kid in a candy shop, loving every moment of it. Cell was practically driven to distraction by all the violence. Jadeite just wanted to get it over with. Snowfall and King Cold were both truly dreading the thought of having to fight against their oldest son.  
Finally the day came when they would face off against the fearsome Cooler, the new ruler of his father's empire. Thousands of Saiyans flew over to the plateau where Gohan and Cell had first fought. This time, Jadeite allowed the Mews to join them. Vegeta first thought the Mews were ridiculous, but a quick demonstration of the power possessed by a typical Mew laid his doubts to rest in a hurry. When Jadeite felt the high energy level approaching from the sky, she got all the Saiyans to merge their energy levels to create one colossal reading. That would undoubtedly draw the new invader in for a closer look.  
  
There was a queer whistling hiss from high overhead. Everyone looked upward at the round blue and white spaceship that was slowly descending. No one moved or even made a sound as it landed and opened up. Several large squads of soldiers marched out and lined up facing the crowd of Saiyans, Mews and hybrids. Then the one they had all waited for finally came out. The Saiyans looked at the tall, strong indigo-skinned creature with the four-pronged crest and knew that they were looking upon Cooler. He called out, his voice as deep and smooth as an orchestral symphony, "Which of you pathetic freaks is in charge here?" "I am," a voice said from high above. People on both sides looked up to see Jadeite hovering overhead. She narrowed her coral eyes at Cooler with a sneer and said, "We are the protectors of this world. Born and reborn, we are the very best that this world has to offer. There is a whole new breed of Saiyan, and there are also genetically engineered hybrids. Saiyans are monkeys no longer. Saiyans are now cats. Hybrids like me are organic weapons, and we live to kill. You stand no chance against us, weakling. Leave this world now…or you will surely face the fate of all the previous challengers." That got Cooler really angry. He snarled, "You dare call me a weakling? Attack, men!" The Saiyans and hybrids prepared for battle, but Jadeite simply said, "Stop! These geeks are mine." Then she turned her attention back toward the many squads of soldiers who were now moving in to kill her. There were well over a hundred soldiers carrying lots of high-powered weapons, but Jadeite wasn't scared of them in the least. She just waited silently with a huge smirk plastered all over her milk-white face until Cooler ordered his men to open fire on her. Even as they took aim at her, she didn't even do so much as move a single muscle. Just before they were going to fire, she put a hand to the metallic trefoil adorning her brow and promptly disappeared. There was a long moment of pure confusion in the ranks of Cooler's men, but then a green and black blur came right out of nowhere and struck a good dozen of them down. The green and black blur sped all across the sky in wild, erratic patterns, every so often pausing just barely long enough for those who were watching the fight to just barely glimpse Jadeite's dark silhouette. Only a few short seconds later, the ground was littered with downed soldiers and Jadeite stood in the middle of it all, facing Cooler with a big, satisfied smirk plastered all over her pretty face. She then got serious and said to him softly, "Why are you here, anyway?" He just roared at her, "I need explain nothing to you, freak!" But, being a powerful psychic creature by nature, she already knew the answer to that question. She said in a quiet voice, "Your father and your younger brother died here on this planet, didn't they. You came here for revenge, didn't you." Cooler's composure broke for a short moment and he asked her, "How in the heck did you know that?" There was a short pause full of poignant meaning. "I have my ways of knowing these things," Jadeite just replied cryptically, "And death is only the beginning of the journey that is life, child. If you really think otherwise, then I guess maybe you're even more of a stupid little fool than I originally thought you were."   
That ticked him off, but Jadeite cut off whatever reaction he would have had by shouting, "Winter Force, assemble!" A lone oddly colored Saiyan jumped forward, posed in the manner of a spastic ballerina and shouted, "Frost!" A second Saiyan jumped forward, struck up a semi-tasteful complementary pose and shouted, "Ice!" A third Saiyan jumped into view and skipped across the scene like a stereotypical schoolgirl out picking flowers, posed and shouted, "Snowfall!" A tall, vibrantly colored male gracefully sashayed into visibility and said to him flatly, using the well-known, super-suave James Bond style, "Cold. King Cold." Flipping into visibility, spinning in midair and finishing by posing like a gymnast, a fifth shouted, "Mist!" A sixth capered threateningly and shouted, "Rain!" A seventh skidded across the view in a cheerleading pose, then took up her position with a rapid series of back-flips and shouted, "Subzero!" An eighth struck up a wacky little disco pose and shouted out, "Blizzard!" A ninth jumped in over the others' heads and then shouted, "Storm!" A little kitten finally skittered into view and lisped, "Freezer!" Then, they said loudly, all together, "Together, we are…the Winter Force!" Cooler remarked, "And just who are these nut cases?" Jadeite narrowed her eyes at him and then said to him coldly, "You should know them, Cooler. You should know them very well…" Before he could react to the fact that she knew his name without him telling her, she turned to face the ten Saiyans and commanded loudly, "Winter Force, prepare to use Ultimate Transformation!" That really startled Cooler. Ultimate Transformation was supposed to be a secret technique that was entirely unique to his species. The Saiyans all closed their eyes and they appeared to be concentrating, preparing for something major.   
  
"Now," Jadeite ordered. Cooler watched in awe as inner energy traced bright white lines down furry bodies. Then the changes began. Legs lengthened, tails slimmed down, faces became more human in appearance and configuration, paws became hands and strength increased along with height. When the light finally died away and he could see them again, ten changelings stood together in place of ten feline Saiyans, and Cooler could recognize them all. His parents, his brother, his aunt and uncle, his cousin, and even his grandparents were there! King Cold had his arms crossed over his broad chest as he gave Cooler a glare that would have flattened several continents if looks could kill. Snowfall had her hands folded against her chest as she just regarded her eldest son sadly. Frieza winked and gave a mischievous grin as if to say, It's me. Storm and Rain stood side by side as they gave him a concerned look, but his cousin Mist just looked happy to see him. His paternal grandparents Frost and Ice were side by side looking very proud and happy to be there, as were his maternal grandparents Blizzard and Subzero. The strange thing was, they were all quite a bit younger than he was, even his grandparents! Was this the side effect of reincarnation? He had never been able to imagine his grandparents in their prime, or his parents as young adults. Jadeite purred, "There. Now do you see? Death is only the beginning." Then she walked away, leaving the changelings to contemplate that.   
  
The crowd parted before her as she made her way to where Cell stood. She looked him in the eyes…and then leapt into his arms. He felt her emotional turmoil and said urgently, "Jadeite… Jadeite, what's wrong?" She gave him a distant look, smiled and said, "Did you know? When I was with you, for the first time…" She relaxed in his arms and embraced him. "…I found myself." She then entwined her arms around his neck and pulled him right into a kiss. She spoke the next few sentences solely with her thoughts. (Now… I am filled with power… We become one…and we soar.) A bright halo appeared around them. All those who looked on had to shield their eyes. (We can trust each other completely. The limitless power of two as one.) Jadeite nestled against Cell's chest, as the halo around them grew stronger and stronger. She suddenly pulled back, whispering, "I feel a warmth…" A ball of light emerged from the center of her body. "…In my chest…" She gazed at it with awe as another one emerged from Cell's chest and merged with hers. "…Like a newborn light…" A human form began to take shape at the very heart of the ball of light that had sprung from the both of them. A black-haired young man with an orange bandanna, a dark black shirt, brownish pants and red tennis shoes lay in the ball of light, curled up into a fetal position. Big pale icy blue eyes slowly opened. A smooth, velvety voice said, "Cell. Jadeite." The light died away as he drifted to the ground and then stood up. "I came for my sister, 18." Looking over her shoulder at Cooler, he then said forcefully, "I will fight alongside you!" Jadeite thought, That's 17. A voice shouted out his name as 18 sprinted over and practically tackled him in her joy. He staggered momentarily under her overjoyed assault and said, "It's okay, little rat. I'm here now and I won't go away ever again." She just whispered to him softly, her voice breaking, "You… God, you don't know how much I've longed to hear you call me that again…"   
  
Jadeite, being a powerful psychic by nature, could sense their emotions. And she could sense something else hidden within their minds… "Hey," she interrupted, "Do you two remember anything from before you became androids?" The response was unanimous and negative. She asked again, "Do you want to? Do you want to know who you are beyond the cold, impersonal number that is now all that you are?" This time the answer was positive. "Then come to me," Jadeite said, "And allow me to do my thing." They did.   
  
Jadeite instructed, "Come closer and join hands with me. Just relax and think nice, calm thoughts." 17 and 18 formed a circle with Jadeite and closed their eyes. She spoke a few words, paused as the androids repeated her words, and then said some more. "I stand and feel the rhythm of my heart, and by its mystic sound I wake my soul. There is a voice within. Again and again it sounds. Come, revelation, come and heal my sundered spirit. Awaken! Awaken the self within myself. The time has come. Let the rebirth begin." A pale blue light began to glow from within Jadeite's body. It passed to 17 and 18 and then it began to grow stronger. Soon all three of them burned like stars given human form.   
  
18 began to speak in a strange voice. "My name is Crystal Marie Northbound. I am a street rat, living in the New York alleys with my older brother." Then 17 began to speak. His voice sounded equally strange. "My name is Jet Andrew Northbound. I am a street rat, living in the New York alleys with my younger sister." The psychic communion ended, and the two androids stepped back, trying to make sense of the information that had just come into their minds. 18 said, "Crystal… My name is Crystal. I used to be a street rat. So that's where you got the idea of calling me a little rat!" 17 proclaimed, "I… I have a name. I'm… I'm Jet! Not 17! I am Jet Andrew Northbound, and as of today I am my own man! I always wondered why I used to call you a little rat. Now I know." 18 walked up to her brother and said, "We belong to ourselves now. No one, including the man who made us what we are can tell us what to do. And I think that's very cool. Don't you?" She took her brother's hand and stepped closer to the crowd of milling Saiyans. After getting everyone's attention, she shouted, "As of now, 17 and 18 are dead! They have faded away like the shadows they are! And in their place, here we stand! I am Crystal Marie Northbound!" 17 cut in with a dramatic flourish; "And I am Jet Andrew Northbound!" Then they said, standing side by side, "Together, we are Crystal and Jet!" Almost as an afterthought, 18 added, "Keep calling us by our numbers…for now."  
  
Jadeite stepped away from Cell and the two androids, looking up at the sky. Her slender white hands came up to touch her head as a fleeting look of pain crossed her pretty face and was quickly hidden. A soft, almost inaudible moan escaped her throat before being stifled. Her right hand slowly came down to press against her chest…and she collapsed. Cell was beside her in less than an instant. She was crouched down low on hands and knees, harshly gasping for air, her milk-white face contorted in purest agony. Just barely managing to look up and see Cell standing over her with a worried, frightened look on his face, she whispered, "It's the same attack as always… I'll be all right… I think…" Cell asked her in an urgent tone, "You've had this happen to you before?" She just barely managed to nod to him as she mewled, "It hurts… And this time…it's not going away…" She looked up at him once again, and the sheer pain on her face tore at his heart. "You should…stay away from me…from now on… Soon…I won't be myself anymore…" That statement alarmed him to no end. He held her tighter and then fairly shouted at her, "What do you mean by that?" She gave a sharp little cry of pain, stiffening momentarily, then collapsed completely. Even though Cell held her to him, she still curled up into a fetal position, mewing wordlessly. Her next few words were spoken solely with her thoughts. (The attacks are getting more frequent…) She suddenly convulsed in his arms with a shrill little squeal of the purest agony. (I hear someone calling in my head…) Her body twisted and writhed for a moment. (It's like someone inside of me is talking.) She then tore away from Cell, throwing her entire body backward as far as she could, frantically motioning him away from her as if his very life depended on it. She shook her head, silently warning him away. (It was like this at Ayers Rock…) Not about to be pushed away so easily, he came up to her again. (Then my mind seemed to fade…) She didn't push him away this time, being too weak to do so. (And I can't remember after that…) He could feel her pain and stark terror as if it were his own, and he was terrified for her. (It's strange… I'm scared… My body has been so strange…) The attack seemed to worsen beyond the great agony that she had already felt if such a thing were even possible. (I never used to have these attacks. I didn't feel so uncertain all the time…) Her breathing grew more labored by the moment. (I wonder… How much longer will my body last?) He held her tightly in his arms, sharing in her stark terror and also frantically praying for her safety. (Hurts… In my head…in my body… Feels like I'm burning!) Her tightly closed eyes glittered. She had started crying. (There's someone trying to get out… Someone's trying to possess me!) She screamed in utter agony as another wave of searing pain washed over her limp, prone form. Convulsing suddenly, she nearly fell out of Cell's embrace. (My head hurts! Going to split in two…feel like throwing up… It hurts…) She sobbed hysterically as the attack worsened beyond the awful pain that had already hit her. (It feels like something is trying to get out of me… I can't let it out. I mustn't!) As Cell gently stroked her spasmodically shuddering back, she finally lost the battle that she had been fighting for so long. With a soft little whimper of fear and pain, she went totally limp in his arms and just plain lay still. Cell whispered her name with a soft little sob.  
As Cell tried in vain to revive her, Shade sensed something. He shouted, "Cell! Get back! She's-" Jadeite's body gave a slight twitch. Cell could feel a mysterious power building in the air all around the three of them. Suddenly Jadeite's head jerked up and her eyes snapped open. Her milk-white face was totally blank and expressionless, but the truly disturbing thing was how much her eyes had changed. They were open wide and they burned a frightful, demonic, sulfuric yellow. Cell was frozen in place momentarily, but even that short moment was far too long. Jadeite's eyes flashed and a demon wind came from out of nowhere and flung Cell away with the force of a truly gigantic hurricane.   
  
Then she turned her attention to Shade, Mewtwo and the seven original hybrid children and a second demon wind swept them back as well. Her body flashed as well. Her deep green armor darkened to become an ashen gray and she rose to her feet. She held out her hand and unnatural electricity crawled along it. She giggled, and her little laugh was a truly frightful sound. Her pretty face twisted in a hideous grin of purest malice that was totally alien to everyone who had the misfortune of seeing it. When she spoke, her voice was low, husky and utterly terrifying to all that were there to hear her speak. "I live! I live! The time has come. Doctor Gero-Master-I have awakened!" She giggled again, and that little giggle quickly rose to become a roaring, insane cackle. It became obvious that she had gone totally mad. Then she said in a solemn voice, "Let the destruction begin." Tilting her head back and looking up to the clear blue heavens, she spread her glossy black wings and quickly took off straight up into the sky, laughing all the way.  
  
Cell dropped to his knees. "Jadeite," he whispered sadly, "How could this happen to us?" Shade walked up behind him and sighed, "This is what I felt. In acquiring your DNA, she also acquired the programming that your creator originally gave you. Those attacks were signs of that programming trying to surface. Now it has taken control." Cell looked up at him, completely perplexed by his words, and said, "I was programmed too? What is the purpose of that programming?" Shade narrowed his eyes and replied, "You already heard it from her: Destruction." Cell fairly reeled under the impact of that revelation and gasped, "Do you mean that she…" Shade nodded to him solemnly and replied in a voice that was barely more than a whisper, "You got it right, Cell. She is now what you were originally meant to become. She is the living weapon you never became. She is pure evil. Jadeite will now begin to indiscriminately slaughter everyone she comes across." The woman Cell loved with all his heart and soul had become a crazed, monstrous killer, and he just couldn't handle that change. Shade had to catch him as he fainted right then and there. He felt Cell's pain, since Jadeite was his sister. And it didn't help the situation that Shade was also psychic and could sense every thought that passed through Cell's mind.  
  
As it turned out, Cooler had decided to mend his ways and end his evil. To seal the promise with his reincarnated family, he blew up the spaceship he had arrived in. Feeling alone and shut away from his family, he decided that he could no longer bear to live his life. Swearing to return someday, Cooler made a last request that someone carry on his legacy. Then he formed a laser blast, brought it around and ended his life right on the spot. The Winter Force had no time to mourn his loss. A new threat had emerged, taking on the form of their leader. Lost and aimless, not knowing what to do next, they all linked hands and disappeared as Goku used Instant Transmission to take them to the Pentagon.  
A few days passed in a massive blur of confusion and sorrow. Cell was completely traumatized, silently wandering the halls in a lifeless daze. News reports began to come in, telling of mass disappearances, entire cities emptied of all of their residents…and of a great gray creature that reminded many of them of the terror that had been known to all as Cell. That had been almost two years ago, and the time of trial appeared to have come again. Then the fateful hour came at last, ushered in by a strange occurrence broadcasted live over the TV. Krillin, Yamcha, Goku, Gohan, Tien, Piccolo, Vegeta and Trunks were all simultaneously struck with a definite case of having to watch the past repeat itself when a horrific explosion interrupted a news program. A tall gray creature blew a huge hole in a nearby wall and then leapt into full view of the cameras with a savage cry. The cameramen scurried around like terrified ants to obey its gruffly barked orders for them to film it pronto. A close-up revealed a harshly beautiful and undeniably feminine face. For the very first time since that terrible day, Cell actually spoke. "Jadeite," he whispered softly. Almost as if in response to his soft voice, the visage shown on the TV smiled wickedly. "I am Jade Falcon," she said in a deceptively sweet, melodious voice, "And I have come to deliver a challenge to all of you. I will be holding a competition in precisely ten days, and I am inviting all the world's strongest fighters to attend it. One by one, they will all face off against me. This one is for all the marbles, so to speak, for if nobody can defeat me in one-on-one battle, the entire Earth is doomed to swift, utter annihilation that will be delivered by my hand. I'll be awaiting your eventual arrival on the very same plateau where the Cell Games were originally held. You have ten full days and no more or less than that amount of time, to train and prepare yourselves for…the Jade Crescent Tournament. Good luck. You'll need it. And here's a sample of what you'll be going up against on that day." She turned toward the hole she'd made in the wall as she'd entered, pointed at the huge vista that was visible through the hole, and made a single simple gesture. There was a loud roar, a huge flash of light, and the vista turned into a smoking wasteland filled with death. She smirked, then leapt out through the hole and flew away.  
  
Vegeta snarled, "Why, the nerve of that freakish monstrosity! Once was enough for that whole contest idea!" Piccolo cut in gruffly; "We have no choice in the matter, guys. We have to face Jade Falcon, as she now calls herself…and destroy her." Shade stifled the urge to intercede. This creature was no longer his older sister. He straightened up, proud and tall, and stormed out of the room with an angry huff that would have done Vegeta proud. No one would ever know that he had gone into the storeroom and cried. When he emerged, everyone was planning what to do. Cell had broken down and was sobbing his heart out, huddled in the corner between the sofa and the wall. No one had noticed him. They were all too busy planning strategies for fighting Jade Falcon to notice how Cell's psyche had shattered. But Shade had decided to leave the strategic planning to those who knew what they were doing. He joined Cell in the corner and linked his mind to the thoughts of the traumatized hybrid. Images of his beloved Jadeite were dancing around in his mind, along with images of the terrible creature that she had become. He wondered whether he would have to fight her, and he was panicking at the thought of having to kill her. He wondered whether or not Jadeite's soul still remained within the body of the wicked Jade Falcon. Shade knew for a fact that he still loved her with all his heart, and he truly empathized with the hybrid for it. Whether she was Jade Falcon or Jadeite, she was still his older sister and he still loved her. In that matter, he and Cell were united as one.   
They had only ten days to train for Jade Falcon's tournament, and the ten days began the moment Jade Falcon left the TV studio. Everyone seemed to go completely insane and train as if the continued existence of the Universe rested solely upon their efforts. Cell wandered around like a ghost of himself, responding to no one and noticing absolutely nothing. Goku, Gohan and even Vegeta tried to speak to him, to talk him into training for the tournament along with them, but it was as if they were in a universe parallel from the one he was in. He didn't seem to see them or hear them. The only one out of all of them who could tell them just what was going on in Cell's seemingly barren mind was Shade. He knew what was happening. Cell had retreated into the strongest case of schizophrenic catatonia Shade had ever seen in his entire life. But the Super Saiyan had an advantage. With his strong, advanced psychic powers, Shade could follow Cell's psyche to wherever it had retreated to and communicate with him. He was the only one who could do so.   
  
After an especially long mental communion with the effectively catatonic Cell, Shade sought out Goku, Gohan and Vegeta to report what he had learned. Barely pausing for a greeting, he said, "I know exactly what's wrong with Cell. He's retreated into the depths of his mind and created a mental barrier between himself and the rest of the world at large. Actually, he's retreated so far into the depths of himself that he's passed far beyond where even his memories can reach. Considering the fact that his memories of Jadeite are inextricably linked with his memories of his whole life, he's slipped into total amnesia again. But this time around it's a whole lot worse. He's completely withdrawn himself from reality. Well, not completely. He's kept just a single thin thread of awareness as a connection to the outside world. In this condition, he walks around without knowing where he's going or why. He knows there is something he has to do, but he's forgotten what it is. And he misses Jadeite, but he doesn't even remember her." Goku asked, "Is there a way to get him to return to reality?" Gohan stated flatly, "Jade Falcon." Vegeta snapped, "Stop babbling and make some sense, boy!" He repeated, just a little bit louder, "Jade Falcon!" Skimming through Gohan's thoughts, Shade exclaimed, "Yeah! That just might work!" Vegeta growled in an impatient voice, "You mind letting the rest of us in on it, then?" Shade quickly explained to the two Saiyans, "Jade Falcon may not have complete control. Some small part of Jadeite might remain deep inside her body. If Cell can awaken that part within her…" Goku crowed, "Then she might revert from Jade Falcon back to Jadeite! Yes! You have to tell him that, Shade! If he hears that there may still be a chance, he may decide to return to reality!" Vegeta seconded, "Yeah, kid. Tell him that. It seems to me like we'll need all the help we can get to defeat Jade Falcon."  



	5. Cell Fights Jade Falcon! Feel The Power!...

  
Shade nodded, then dashed away and ran down the nearest hallway at full tilt. Goku, Gohan and Vegeta just relaxed and calmly watched the news as events unfolded. Each and every channel was offering complete round-the-clock coverage on the Jade Crescent Tournament, the actions of Jade Falcon and the actions of the general populace in the immediate area. People were fleeing from Japan in any way possible, leaving by the hundreds, by boat and plane and train and car and even on foot. Many were trying to leave the area, but few were making it very far. Jade Falcon was stopping most of them and making them turn back. She wanted them to stay in Japan and in the vicinity of her arena so that she would have at least some challengers for her upcoming competition. If they all left the immediate area, then she wouldn't be able to have any fun with them.   
The bullet train to Osaka was running on time, despite the fact that it was carrying far too many passengers. Every empty space was taken up by desperate people trying to flee from Jade Falcon's wrath. The older people could remember doing the same thing when Cell had come. The children just didn't get it or didn't really care. They just found it fun. They couldn't understand the danger the world was faced with, or what was going on.   
  
A little girl giggled and waved out the window. When her mother asked her who she was waving to, the little girl simply pointed to the black-winged gray hybrid creature who was flying less than a hundred meter away, easily pacing the train. As they both watched, the hybrid turned its head a little to look at the train. It seemed to see the little girl waving to it, for it suddenly smiled back at the little girl, only its smile was actually an evil smirk.   
  
The mother then screamed, "It's Jade Falcon!" Someone pulled an emergency brake and the train then came to a screeching halt. Almost before the train was completely stopped, people were pouring out of the doors and windows in a panicked flood. They all paused when a gray blur streaked through the sky and landed right in the middle of the crowd. It kicked up a huge cloud of dust when it landed. After a few seconds, the dust cleared, revealing the same black-winged gray hybrid creature that had been flying alongside the train. Jade Falcon smirked and said, "And just where do all of you think you're going?"   
  
Someone cried, "Scatter, everyone! She can't catch us all!" Soon people were running in all possible directions, picking just about any direction that was away from Jade Falcon. She just laughed at the sight of their stark terror and then said loudly, "Run where you will! There is nowhere you can go where I can't find you!" Her predatory gaze fell upon two children. One was a teenage girl and the other was a younger boy. As she slowly, inexorably marched in closer to her prey, savoring every moment of their fear, the boy tripped and fell face down in the dust. Soon she stood over the frightened young child.   
  
There was a swift blur of brownish hair and the girl was standing right between her and the fallen boy. Quickly looking over her shoulder, the girl hissed out, "Run, Jim!" The boy just nodded to her and tore off. Jade Falcon made to step by her, but the teenage girl just fearlessly matched her sideways movement. "I won't let you hurt my little brother," she said in a low hissing voice. Jade Falcon just sneered and then prepared to blast her…   
  
But she stopped. The girl looked up and saw the hybrid's evil sneer change into a look of surprised confusion. "…Little…brother…" Her armor then began to flicker between gray and green as Jadeite and Jade Falcon fought for dominance. Her hands pressed against her violently heaving chest and she collapsed. The girl was very confused. In the middle of a massive internal power struggle, the hybrid choked out; "My real name…is Jadeite… Jade Falcon…controlling me… All my friends… Washington D.C… The Pentagon… Contact them…tell them…" She convulsed uncontrollably. "Go! Jade Falcon…taking over… Can't keep control… Run! Can't hold her…much longer…" Her armor settled on gray as the battle ended with Jade Falcon in control and Jadeite once again suppressed. But the girl was already long gone. She found her brother and then they both went to contact the Pentagon. If the news she had heard from the hybrid's alter ego proved to indeed be true, then it could mean the ultimate downfall of Jade Falcon once and for all.   
The phone rang in the Pentagon and Gohan answered it. His eyes widened as he heard the message. When the message was done, he said a quick goodbye, slammed the phone down and ran away. He ran to where Shade was preparing to enter into Cell's inert mind and shouted, "I just got a message…from Jadeite!" The Super Saiyan and the hybrid jerked as one. Shade swore, holding his head, then prepared to give Gohan the lecture of his life. But he was shocked to see that Cell was already talking to the young Saiyan. Shade whispered, "Jadeite is alive…" Then he ran off to tell Goku and Vegeta the news.  
  
Given a ray of hope to cling to, Cell threw himself into his training with an insane fervor that put to shame even Vegeta's single-minded determination to be the best warrior ever. He always demanded that his opponents give him everything they had…and more. There were times when he was dealt injuries that would have made even Vegeta retreat in fear for his life, but he just kept right on fighting right until the bitter end. He insisted nonstop that he be the first one to face off against Jade Falcon. Goku couldn't help but notice how much Cell had changed from what he had originally been. He had also grown much stronger. There was no more Goku or any of the other Saiyans could do for him or for anyone else. It appeared that the entire battle against the evil Jade Falcon would be left solely up to Cell. Given the undeniable fact that the hybrid had proven his worth to all of them both in and out of battle on numerous occasions, everyone was more than inclined to trust in him and just let him do his thing. He would indeed face off against Jade Falcon first. In the midst of all of the frantic training, there was also some very good news. Snowfall was discovered to be two weeks pregnant and relatively recent psychic scans had determined and confirmed that the as yet unborn child was the reincarnation of Cooler. Snowfall exulted in that simple fact, but she still didn't stop her intense battle training. Pregnant or not, she would still do as much as the rest, both in and out of battle.  
  
Eventually the time came for the battle that everyone dreaded so much. Everyone flew to the great plateau where everything had all begun so very long ago, to go up against the evil Jade Falcon. Cell silently led the way in. Though he hid it from the others quite well, his determination was wavering. He didn't really know whether he could reach Jadeite or not. But, to him, it didn't really matter all that much whether he succeeded or failed. He had to protect the others. He just had to believe in himself and give the battle his all.   
  
Everyone landed beside Jade Falcon's ring, but Cell didn't do like they did. He landed right inside the ring, facing Jade Falcon. She promptly struck up a fighting pose and prepared to take him on, but he didn't even seem to care about getting ready to fight against her. He just looked over at her with a sorrowful, despairing face and said softly, "Jade Falcon… Jadeite… It's me. Cell." Jade Falcon froze in place momentarily with a look of confusion written all over her pretty face. Then her face went completely blank and she slowly began to walk closer to him, stretching out both her slender hands to him.   
  
For a short moment, it looked as if she would kiss him. The moment promptly froze in a pocket of crystal time and just hung there, suspended. Reality's return to normal saw Jade Falcon's hands wrapped around Cell's throat as she began to brutally strangle him. Her pretty, milk-white face twisted in an expression of animalistic rage as she snarled at him, "Was this your ultimate plan to deal with me, Cell? You are such a weak, pathetic fool. Did you really think you could get me to lose control just by talking to me? This body is mine. Its real owner is making quite a racket in here even as we speak," she said frankly as she tapped the side of her head with her fingertip, "But I don't plan to let her frantic weeping and wailing distract me from my goal. She's trying her very best to protect you from me, but she can't win." Desperately fighting for air, Cell struggled in vain to break free of her grip. This can't be happening… His frightened thoughts whirled frantically as everything began to go dark and cold. She wouldn't do this… Something that had lain hidden deep within his terrified mind stirred and, at last, awakened. A blinding flash of pure white light exploded from within Cell's body and threw the both of them apart. He landed flat on his rear and then skidded backward about ten feet, hitting his head hard on a nearby rock. Wobbling on his feet, he just barely managed to stand back up again. His eyes glittered with tears as yet unshed as he cried out, "Jadeite, please! Don't give up! You fought her once…you can do it again! The Saiyans can help you beat Jade Falcon!" Jade Falcon didn't even so much as flinch at that cry. She just sneered at Cell with a cold look on her pretty face and said nastily, "It's no use. You can't win." He paused, horrified. Why can't I get her back? His coral eyes glittered brighter and he just barely stifled a body-shaking sob. This was more than he could take without his heart breaking. I have to defeat Jade Falcon…but to do that I have to destroy her… He then remembered Shade's words about Jadeite's becoming Jade Falcon weeks ago. "…In acquiring your DNA, she also acquired the programming your creator originally gave you. Those attacks were signs of that programming trying to surface. Now it has taken control…" My love was recreated from the inside out… She's not the same person! He stared over at her and felt an unshakable sense of utter helplessness filling up his heart and soul. Do I have to fight her? Do I have to kill her? "No," he whispered softly, cringing and shivering very slightly. Then he put his hands up against his head, closed his eyes tightly and screamed at the top of his lungs, "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Jade Falcon wavered and nearly fell. Shade cried, "Both Jade Falcon and Jadeite are reacting to the confusion in Cell's heart!" Gohan quickly turned to him and said, "Cell's heart is influencing Jade Falcon's power?"   
  
Cell slowly looked upward, pure despair written all across his milk-white face and locked eyes with Jade Falcon. The evil gray hybrid just looked at him coldly as she charged up another vicious attack. Then she blew all the others away from them with no more than a mere thought. Help me, someone… I'm not the one who can beat her… I can't do it… A familiar psychic voice echoed in his mind. It was the voice of Jadeite, whispering softly to his soul. (Be proud of the fact that you are a hybrid and this world's protector…) It was as if she were right beside him, listening in on his thoughts and trying her level best to help him out a little bit. Cell began to cry for real. He still felt totally lost and helpless, but a new determination burned deep within him. Is there no choice? Feeling self-assured in some small way, he took a few small steps forward, toward Jade Falcon. I can't stand to see her like this anymore… Goku reached out to him and then shouted his name in a questioning manner, but Cell wasn't listening to him anymore, or to anyone else for that matter. Is this the only way? His hand began to burn with laser energy as he prepared to attack Jade Falcon. He then charged at her. Is this the reason I came back from oblivion? He was totally silent as he did so. Shade called out to Goku; "I can't read his thoughts anymore! His mind's gone totally blank!" Mewtwo continued, (I can sense his emotions! Goku, he's gone suicidal on us!) Goku thought, Cell…is suicidal… Talk about weird.  
Cell quickly swiped his burning hand through the air before Jade Falcon, but he didn't touch her. Such was his plan. That one simple action served to startle her into immobility, just long enough for him to get in just a bit closer to her. He could no longer hide his pain as a look of pure emotional devastation settled on his face. Then they were standing face to face. He was crying and she just looked confused. The moment froze as he lunged forward and stole a quick kiss from her. He closed his eyes in the middle of the kiss and silently prayed for forgiveness for what he was going to do. He grimaced against the great flood of tears, then brought his burning hand forward and quickly drove the energy right through the center of her chest. There was a big, swift burst of bright purplish blood from right between the two of them. Cell then quickly pulled his blazing hand backward.   
  
Quickly weakening from trauma and blood loss, Jade Falcon slowly began to crumple to the ground, a look of pain, shock and surprise plastered on her contorted face. Jadeite… Cell fairly screamed in despair. You are my first love… His whole life flashed before his watching eyes, dominated by a huge image of the beauty that was Jadeite smiling over at him lovingly. …My only love… He couldn't bear to live his life without her and he also didn't really want to try to manage it. Even if we're reborn in another life… The pain of loss took over his sorrowful, traumatized mind, and yet he also felt a strange sense of hope. …We'll find each other… There could still be a slim chance left for him. …And then… Wasting no time in ending his sorrows, Cell quickly reversed the bright blade of laser light and then drove it through his own chest. …We'll fall in love again… The others watched him end his own life in pure horror, either screaming out loud or stifling a scream. …Jadeite… Pain filled his mortally wounded body, but to him it was a sweet, welcomed pain that washed away all his sorrows and the pain that filled his sorrowing soul. …We'll transcend time… Everything was slowly fading away and growing darker as his body shut down. It was getting harder and harder for him to breathe. The pain was leaving him. He spoke the name of his love for the last time, smiling feebly. …To live again… The pain died away completely and soon he felt nothing at all. The sorrow was gone. …Perhaps this time… He could barely feel his limp, dying body falling to the ground to land beside the dead Jade Falcon as the whole world slowly went dark and cold. …We'll find happiness… The world ever so slowly fell away into a soft, silent darkness. His final thought was of his love. …Jadeite… Cell almost smiled as he gave his last breath and felt nothing more. The pain was all gone, and so was everything else.   
  
Shade's eyes went wide and he screamed out in wild, tortured shock, "No! Cell! Jadeite! This…" He suddenly choked on the next series of screamed words as he burst into frantic tears at the sight of what had just happened to his older sister. "This can't be what was supposed to happen to you guys! This can't be how it's all supposed to end for us!" Collapsing to his knees, he tilted his head back and howled, "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"   
  
The sight of a soft, pale white light arising from the place where the two dead hybrids lay stopped his frantic cries of grief in favor of watching in pure awe. Two smallish spheres of pale white light slowly arose from the two dead hybrids' unmoving chests and then merged together to form one single brightly burning mass. The ball of light grew brighter and then lit up the whole entire area from behind, leaving all that would soon transpire visible only via a very starkly delineated silhouette. Everyone could barely see anything. A big, strange, brightly shining mass ever so slowly rose upward from somewhere under the blood-drenched ground all around the two dead hybrids, slowly encapsulating the both of them in its blazing depths. Upon engulfing them, it then began to take on a very strange, almost crystalline appearance as it gradually sealed the two of them away from the world at large. The light ever so slowly died away into nothingness, revealing a high, towering formation made up of what appeared to be shimmery silvery-white crystal.   
  
Curious and somewhat amazed by the sight, Shade slowly walked up to the high tower of silvery crystal and then looked in on the ones who were held firmly within its walls. Jade Falcon's armor had changed to a deep green; showing him that Jadeite was now firmly in control and that she would probably stay that way. In killing her and then dying by his own hand, Cell had actually managed to win his fight. Death had defeated the evil of Jade Falcon once and for all, but Jadeite appeared to have won it all in the end. She lay flat on her stomach, her arms outstretched, looking like she was merely sleeping. Cell's head rested against her slender shoulder, his arm limply draped over her back and her wings. Their wounds… As Shade watched in utter awe, their injuries were slowly closing up. He then said softly, "They're healing…" An incredulous look settled on his furry face. Then he turned to face all the others and yelled loudly, "Hey, everyone! They're healing!" The air rang as the Saiyans and hybrids gave a simultaneous cheer at that very happy news.  
  
A short, sharp squeal of pain came from behind him. Shade turned to see that Snowfall had collapsed, her paws crossed over her stomach. She looked up to her husband and said simply, "It's time." King Cold turned to Shade and said, "She's having the baby now." Vegeta snapped, "Already? But it's only been two weeks!" Shade replied, "Our kind has a gestation time of just one month. Basically, we Saiyans breed like rabbits." Snowfall had dropped to a low crouch. The rest of the Winter Force gathered all around her to help her. Gohan had to hold the squalling Freezer back, seeing as the little kitten would only get in the way. It didn't take all that long to complete itself. The kitten was born in mere minutes. The newborn child didn't cry or mew, just lying quietly in his mother's arms.   
  
Gohan released Freezer, who ran to his mother's side to look at the baby. The child was a deep indigo color, and his ears were swept backward in a graceful natural curve. Two small tufts of wiry fur ran backward along his jawline, mirroring his tiny ears to form a delicate little four-pronged crest. Freezer lisped, "Hi, little brother! We switched places!" The kitten smiled at Freezer, then curled up in Snowfall's arms and promptly sacked out. Freezer took the cue his brother gave him and just quietly laid down on his mother's lap.  
  
As the Saiyans watched the birth unfold before their very eyes, the crystalline tower went totally unnoticed. While the Winter Force exulted in the rebirth of Cooler as one of their own, something very strange was happening behind them. Where am I? Within the heart of the great crystal tower, Jadeite slowly opened her eyes and looked at the silvery crystalline walls that were all around her. It's so cold and shimmery… It took her a few minutes before she really saw where she was. Am I alive? Is this a dream? Slightly confused, she eyed the cocoon that held both her and Cell. Silver crystal… The crystal tower shrank down and returned to nothingness as she closed her eyes and used her powers. There was a huge bright white light and a sound like that of great rushing winds. Turning around and shielding their eyes, the Saiyans looked to where the two hybrids had fallen. When they could see again, they all saw that the crystal tower was completely gone. In its place, they could see Jadeite sitting up and leaning over the limp body of Cell, who appeared to be dead. She looked down at him with an expression of sheer agony. Cell… Cringing in pain, she then laid a hand on her sore chest. He…stabbed me? Looking down, she noticed that her armor was different from how it had been before. My armor… She looked at it a little bit closer. It's grown to cover my chest completely… Her tentative touch revealed more than what her eyes had shown her. It's been smashed… Suddenly, she knew what had to have happened. It took the blow for me? She looked down at Cell. It's not a dream… He wasn't breathing and his body was very cold and completely lifeless. I came back to life alone? Jadeite's bright coral-hued eyes filled up with tears. How could this happen? She reached out and touched his hand. Something was going to happen. She could feel it. Your hand… Just then, she noticed that something strange was going on. …It's getting warmer and warmer… Her heart raced wildly as a feeling of pure elation overwhelmed her soul. Just then, she felt it as Cell's heart began to beat again. She whispered softly, hardly daring to believe what was happening, "Cell…" Slowly opening his eyes, he smiled up at her and whispered her name in return. Crying, she fairly yelped, "Cell!" She lunged into his arms and held him tight. It's a miracle! Reassuring her with his presence, he held her hand as she laid her head against his chest.   
  
His eyes opened wide and she gave a momentary jerk as something deep within the both of them stirred, and then awakened. Their powers moved of their own accord, gathering around both of their hands. A bright reddish-orange light flared into abrupt existence, elongating unnaturally. A scepter of fire… The flames slowly died away to reveal a rod of bright burnished copper. A fist-sized ruby was set in the heart of a circle marked with rays that made it look like a stylized sun. It's my weapon… She'd seen something that was a lot like this in a movie once, and so the name that she gave to it had effectively created itself. The Staff of Ra… It had cooled down to a normal temperature, but it was still just a little bit warm to her touch. Our two powers created this… She looked toward Cell for some needed encouragement. He looked just as confused by the matter as she did, but pure curiosity overshadowed it. I know what to call out… Knowledge filled her soul to the brim for no apparent reason, newly awakened within her body and mind by the staff's recent creation. I have my very own attacks now… Had the two of them created the staff, or had it just created itself using the two of them as its vehicle for creation? She honestly didn't know the answer to that simple question. I can manipulate the elements themselves in battle… But she knew that she had gained some more power.  
  
A short flash of pure dread overwhelmed her heart, but it only lasted for just a moment. Always… Why did she feel as though something very bad was coming for them all? When I think I'm happy… How much more trials and tribulations would she have to go through before she could just settle down and live a normal life? The next instant… Was her ominous feeling a premonition of trying times yet to come at some point in the near future? I'm suddenly unsure. Her gut instincts had never failed her before, so she doubted that her heart was playing a trick on her with the feeling of fear and dread. It had to be real. I somehow feel this happiness won't last. She felt a moment of pure regret, then gave a soft sigh and drowned her sorrows in the soothing balm of the purest resignation.   
Oh, well… A faint look of faraway sadness drifted across her pretty face, but it was quickly replaced by a look of pure determination. That's my destiny. She looked up to the clear blue sky and felt a new resolve fill her, fueled by the love she felt for her home. Whatever happens, I'll succeed. Sensing her uncertainty, Cell turned toward her and asked softly, "Jadeite, what's wrong?" Turning to face him, he gave him a sad little smile and said in a very soft voice, "We have peace…for now. But I wonder…will the time to use the Staff of Ra come soon?" Cell laid a gentle hand on her shoulder, gave her a small, comforting smile and replied, "The future will come soon. No force on Earth can stop it from coming. For better or for worse, it will come in time… It may be good or it may be bad. It may just be weird. It could be anything. I don't know what it'll bring, none of us know that, but I do know that we will all face it…together." Side by side, they turned to face the others. The gathered Saiyans and hybrids patiently awaited her next command.   
  
Knowing exactly what to do next, she stepped forward and said loudly, "We will all spend the night here, on this here plateau, right around this arena. In the early morning, we will fly to America via a nonstop flight over the Pacific Ocean. We'll be going via the overland route after that's done, so we'll do most of our flying at night. For now, it's been a really long day, so let's just hang out or hit the sack." The Saiyans and the hybrids promptly kicked back and relaxed. They talked and laughed together for hours on end. Shade and Mewtwo stayed right beside Jadeite the whole time. Night came with relative rapidity, and everyone quickly settled down. Freezer had already sacked out, being the youngest except for little Cooler, who was also asleep. Jadeite herself also fell asleep early on, having had a very long, hard day. Cell refused to leave her side for any reason, seeing as he was still recovering from the pure trauma of her having been Jade Falcon.   
  
The morning came quickly and everyone got ready for the upcoming journey with great rapidity, really wanting to get back home to America and Washington D.C in particular. Jadeite led them as always; charging forward, leaping into the air and then flying off with the great speed that was typical of her. Cell, as always, was right behind her. The others quickly followed her into the air in rapid succession. Soon a huge cloud of Saiyans and hybrids soared over the land. It didn't take them too long to reach the shore of the ocean.   
  
Not even bothering to pause and regroup, they just continued on. They saw a few puffy white clouds on the horizon, but everything else was just water and sky. It didn't take long before land was in sight. But then something terrible happened. Thunderclouds rolled in from out of nowhere and enshrouded them all. The sky went white. Jadeite looked around with increasing franticness, a look of horror growing on her face. She whispered, "No, it can't be, it just can't be, say it isn't…" She whipped around to face the others and squealed in a voice full of terror, "It's a white squall! Fly for your lives!"   
  
Not quite understanding the danger that they were all in, Cell came up right beside her and repeated questioningly, "White squall?" She turned to face toward him, stark terror written all over her face, and then said quickly, "It's even deadlier than a hurricane. Folks call it The Perfect Storm. Anything in the water goes straight to the bottom and may God have mercy on your soul if you're up in the air. The downdrafts can smash a reinforced titanium airplane into little bits. Nothing can hope to survive it. For your life, Cell, fly!"   
But it was already far too late. They had wasted way too much time on talking. The very same downdraft that she had spoken of smashed them both from above with the force of a thousand atomic bombs. Jadeite's psychic powers saved her from falling, but Cell wasn't so lucky. He was totally helpless as he plummeted toward the madly churning ocean like a screaming green comet. She could see him trying to spread his wings and at least glide, but the downdraft forced his wings to fold against his will and he could do nothing save continue his death plunge. All his frantic efforts did was make him go into a tight spiral. She saw him hit the water with the force of a thousand oversized freight trains. He didn't surface and she wasn't at all surprised by the fact that he wasn't coming back up. That was typical of a white squall. Jadeite would have searched for him, but she knew that nothing could possibly survive the downdraft. She had to get herself to safety. Cell would have wanted it that way. Stifling the urge to weep, she turned away and flew toward land.  
  
Deep underwater, being violently tossed across the rocky bottom by the madly churning currents, Cell desperately struggled to reach the surface. He really regretted having tried to glide out of the downdraft, since both of his wings were now completely useless to him. They hurt like heck and, for a single split second, he wondered if they were both broken. But he had more important matters to think of, like getting to the surface to breathe. His chest was beginning to ache and burn from lack of air. If he was to even try to survive being caught in the storm, he needed to breathe and quickly. Kicking and clawing at the water, he frantically fought to swim up to the surface. Need…air… He was almost there, he could even see the rain falling in white sheets, and soon he would be able to breathe… So close… Then a viciously powerful riptide sucked him back down to the bottom, sending him spinning like a whirligig. No… He realized, with a sickening dizzy lurch, that he no longer knew which way was up. No… Where was the surface? No… He began to panic, thrashing and clawing blindly. No, this can't be happening! Then rational thought took over. No, no, stay calm. He had to think about what he would have to do next. Have to find the surface… He looked around to try to see where he had to go, then, having failed at doing that, he arbitrarily picked a direction and started to swim. I'll try…this way. Time seemed to slow down and, for a moment, he began to think that he had chosen the wrong direction. But he realized that the current was still trying to drag him downward. Surely it wouldn't try to push me down if this wasn't up. He was beginning to lose consciousness and he was almost too weak to move, but he put all of his meager remaining strength into a final explosive charge toward the surface. Have to…give it all I've got… Just when he thought that it was all over for him, he finally reached the surface. Air! The wildly churning waves only let him take a single quick breath before dragging him back underwater again. Not again… This time he was thrown clear to the bottom. This is just great. A semi-sharp rock smashed him in the abdomen and a cloud of bubbles erupted from his mouth and nose as the air was abruptly forced from his lungs. Oh my God, no! His instinctive reaction was to take a deep breath, and his lungs were filled with water before he knew it. No! No! He couldn't stop himself as he instinctively breathed in copious amounts of water. NOOOOOOOOOOOO! His lungs were completely full of water, its presence causing an unbearable burning sensation in his chest. No… Cell went into violent convulsions, clawing at his chest and throat. Consciousness fled quickly as his body used its last-ditch defense against sure death, his metabolism slowing down to barely above zero. But even then, he didn't have much time.  
Samuel Reed lived on the coast of the state of Washington, and he loved to begin his mornings with a walk along the beach. He'd heard the storm lashing and tearing at the skies the previous day, but that didn't keep him from his daily walk. His white cane swept the ground before him, its red tip probing side to side with each step he took. His Saint Bernard, Beethoven, trotted alongside him. Even though he was totally blind, he still loved to walk on the beach. The waves rushed and rolled mere inches away. This was a perfect day. Then his cane struck something on the ground. Beethoven started barking in the same manner he always did when he found a stranger. Sam knelt down and reached out to touch what he had run into. His groping hand came up against something hard. A bit more searching revealed that he was touching someone's arm. He gave a little gasp. Evidently someone was lying in the surf, as if they had washed in with the tide. His next actions came naturally. He felt for the person's neck and felt a fatally slow heartbeat. The body was as cold as the ground and the person wasn't breathing. He touched the person's face and found a stream of salty fluid flowing from an open mouth. Sam knew what the problem was. The person's lungs were full of water. Acting on that knowledge quickly, he applied pressure to the person's chest and abdomen. Nothing happened. Then he fairly jumped on the person's chest. He heard a splattering sound and a choked gurgling cry as the water left the person's lungs. He also felt weak, spastic movement as the person violently convulsed. Then he heard a series of wet, body-shaking coughs and rough gasps for air as the person cleared the rest of the water out of their lungs and began to breathe on their own. The breaths slowed and deepened as the person lost consciousness again. The person was injured badly after having been near death, and needed Sam's help. Wasting no time, he wrapped his arms under the person's shoulders and lifted with all his strength. Then he began to drag the person back to his house. Beethoven helped him out.   
  
Cell awakened ever so slowly, reality returning to him in gradual stages. He was lying on something very soft, and he was nice and warm. Where am I? What happened to me? He slowly opened his eyes and looked up. There was a whitewashed tile ceiling directly above him, and the walls that he saw were made up of panels of some form of dark wood. Lights of red, orange and yellow danced along the walls and ceiling. Slowly turning his head, he saw a largish fireplace made up of big gray stones, complete with a roaring fire. Then he found out where he was. He was lying stretched out on a couch, a warm woolen blanket draped over him. But how in the heck had he gotten there? All sorts of aches and pains crashed in on him when he tried to sit up. It…hurts… The world spun crazily around him and he thought for sure that he would pass out again. I'm losing it… Overwhelmed and disoriented, he had no choice but to fall back on the couch with a low moan of confused pain. I feel so weak… "So you've finally decided to come around and return to the land of the living, have you?" The voice startled him. He looked to the side and saw an old man sitting in a big leather chair across from him. His next few words came naturally as he asked, "What happened? Where am I?" The man smiled at him in a fatherly fashion and said, "You took quite a beating out there, son. I found you lying on the beach this morning and you've been out cold for the whole day. Judging from your proximity to the waves, you must have washed in with the tide. You were hurt rather badly, so I brought you here to my house to recover. Did you get caught in yesterday's storm?" An expression of confused uncertainty settled in on Cell's face as he replied hesitantly, "I was…out flying with my family. Over the ocean… We could see the land. A storm came up from out of nowhere… My wife called it a white squall. A downdraft… I was hit from above and then I…fell. No time to stop myself, to even try to react. I could hear someone screaming…was it really me I heard? The water… I could see it below me. I hit hard… There was a loud sound…an explosion of pain… And… I don't remember too much after that…" The man said, "It seems to me like you're very lucky to still be alive right now, son. I swept the whole beach after bringing you over here and I couldn't find any sign of your aircraft no matter how hard or far I searched. It must have been completely destroyed by the storm…and yet you survived." That statement completely confused Cell. What does he mean by my aircraft? Doesn't he know that I am Cell? I need no aircraft in order to fly! He narrowed his eyes cautiously and then asked the man, "Wait just a minute here… My appearance doesn't scare you?" The man shook his head and replied, "It can't scare me. You see…I'm blind." Narrowing his eyes warily, Cell asked, "Who are you, anyway?" The man replied, "My name is Sam. And who are you?" Suddenly frightened at the prospect of revealing his true identity to the strange man, Cell finagled, "Just call me Ross." Sam replied, "Okay. Ross it is, then." Feeling just a little bit stronger, Cell tried to sit up once again. This time, he managed to do it, but the effort tired him out. Relaxing against the sofa, he just sat back and breathed deeply. He was lost in thought until he felt a presence by his side. Sam stood beside him and held out a cup and saucer to him. "Here," he said, "Drink this. You'll feel much better." Cell hesitantly accepted what he offered, taking the cup and saucer from Sam. Unsure, he slowly took a sip. The liquid flowed down his throat, creating a warm glow inside him. He turned and said softly, "Sam, it's…it's good." Sam replied, "I'm glad you like it." Suddenly, Cell found himself caught in a huge yawn that he couldn't suppress no matter how hard he tried to do so. "So…tired…" Sam smiled at him and said, "Sleep now, son. Just sleep."   
  
Cell awakened the very next day, feeling strong enough to try walking. He slowly stood, fighting off a sudden feeling of dizziness, making sure of his balance by laying a hand on the back of the couch that had served as his bed. Taking it slowly, he took a small step forward. Still too weak to stand up on his own, he leaned against various objects as he walked. Worn out by even that slight effort, he put his shoulder to the wall and lowered his head, resting a bit. He thought about his current situation and grimaced. I, who once came close to destroying the world, have been reduced to hobbling about like an invalid. He wryly smiled to himself. Whoever would have thought? He looked up and saw that the wall he leaned up against was adorned with an old photograph. A happy man stood in an orchard, a laughing woman and a young child at his side. Feeling a presence, he turned and saw Sam standing there. Curious, he asked, "Who are the people in this photograph?"   
  
Tears sprang to Sam's sightless eyes and he said, "They are-were my family. They died two years ago… We were on vacation in Ginger Town. I went to the beach that day… My wife and son stayed behind. When I returned…" He choked up. "When I returned, the city was completely empty. There were just clothes lying around. I could hear people screaming in the distance…and the sounds of people shooting. Only one thought crossed my mind at that point. My wife and son… I had to find them! I searched all over and found them hiding together in a dark alley, behind an abandoned garbage truck. Then it came, seemingly from out of nowhere. It was…some sort of a thing. It looked like it was a big green bug with a beak and a long needle-tipped tail. It spoke of…absorbing us… Somehow I knew that this had been the fate of the others whose clothes I had seen earlier. I leapt in front of it, telling my wife and son to run for their lives. They did as I said, but it…got past me. My wife shielded my son with her own body, giving her life to protect him…and it…took her… I watched her fade…she faded into nothing! My son ran as fast as he could…but he wasn't nearly fast enough. It got him too… I don't know why it chose me, but it left me alive. It wanted me to tell the others…" He turned away. "I alone survived that day. I was taken to a hospital for a precautionary quarantine. There I saw the news broadcast that changed everything for me. I learned the name of the hateful thing that had killed my family, the name of the one I swore to hate forever. Cell…" Cell shivered at the pure hatred in Sam's voice. "I would have hunted him down right then and there, but then I got that disease. I can't remember its name, but I was sick for weeks and it took my sight with it when it left. Even after I lost my sight, I kept a vivid memory of Cell's face, so that I could identify him by touch if not by sight…and kill him. But by the time I finally recovered, I heard that Cell was already dead." Cell shivered silently. The multitudinous horrors of his distant, almost forgotten past were now staring him in the face. It was all he could do to choke out, "I… I'm so sorry…" Sam snapped back out of his memory-trance and turned to face him. He said, "Well, Ross, that reminds me. I don't know what you look like. Would you be terribly offended if I touched your face?" Hearing those words, Cell almost felt as though the icy hand of death was reaching out to grab him. He'll recognize me for sure if he does that! I'm doomed if he does that! Panicking in a major way, he stepped back and squealed, "No!" Startled by his sudden outburst, Sam stepped back, smiled reassuringly and said, "Okay. I won't do that, then."   
  
A couple more days passed. Cell had gained enough strength to walk around, but he still needed to stop and rest every so often. Feeling the need to protect himself from unseen prying eyes, he took a large sheet and made a hooded cloak out of it. With it wound around him and the hood up, no one would recognize his inhuman form for what it was. No one would know his true identity. While he wore that cloak, he would simply be Ross the mysterious wanderer. He felt that he owed Sam a huge favor for helping him out in his time of need and saving his life, but he didn't know what to do. And even though he could walk around to some extent, he was still far too weak to even try to fly. So he just wandered around the area like a silent ghost, walking along the beach and sitting and gazing up at the starry sky at nighttime. He spent most of the time thinking of Jadeite. Was she all right? Did she think him to be dead now? Had she even survived the storm?   
  
One dark night, he returned to Sam's house with a feeling of pure dread. Something just wasn't right. He silently entered the house and walked down the hallway like a ghost. Then he heard voices. "Hand over all your money on the double or you will surely face the consequences of disobedience, old man." "Do what he says or I swear I'll shoot you." The next voice he heard was Sam's. "You'll get nothing from me, you creeps!" Cell ran down the hallway as fast as he could possibly manage to go, which was pretty darn fast, his cloak billowing around his glossy black wings. A masked man regarded Sam, who stood tall and proud. A second masked man held a gun pointed at him. The second man said, "Then I guess you'll just have to die, old man!" With a rush of billowing fabric, Cell charged between Sam and the man with the gun as he fired, and took the bullet that was meant to kill Sam. Sam started at the sound of motion and also heard the man squealing; "Now you just keep away from me, man! You're not human! You're not human!" The other man pulled out a gun and, before Cell could react, he had just shot Sam in the side. Cell gave a shocked, outraged, fearful cry as Sam slowly fell. Moving with his customary unnatural speed, he caught Sam and gently eased him down to the ground. He said urgently, "Sam, I can help you. I have the power to heal." He got right down to work.   
  
The burglars watched as the injured man's body began to burn a bright yet pale blue. When the glow finally died away, Sam sat up with a short little gasp, a look of pure shock on his face. He then turned to face toward the two burglars and had the most monumental revelation of his entire life. "I can see," he whispered incredulously, "I can see!" Under his cloak, Cell smiled. This occurrence was completely unforeseen, but it looked as if he had paid back his debt to Sam. Getting back down to business, he stepped forward and called out abruptly, "Sam, I'm going to grab that guy's gun and throw it to you. You keep them both covered while I take care of business." Then he darted forward, amazing Sam with his superhuman speed, and attacked the two burglars. A short moment later, Sam reached out and caught the pistol Cell had tossed his way. He brought it to bear on the now unarmed burglar as the one who was still armed opened fire on Cell. Sam cried out in horror, "Ross!" Unaffected in the least and also undaunted, Cell just slowly walked up closer to his target. The burglar with the gun cried out, "No way, man! He's not human! He's not human!" Then Cell grabbed him, abruptly disarmed him and then threw him across the room to join his partner. After finishing doing that, Cell swatted them both over the head, knocking them both out cold. He turned to face Sam, saying, "I'm glad that's done. Are you all right?" The only response he received was a gasp of shock.   
  
Sam's eyes went wide and he gasped in shock and fear. Looking down at himself, Cell saw that the front of his cloak was smoldering. Part of it was torn away, revealing some of his armor. Scared clean out of his mind, Sam quickly turned the gun on him. He said, "You're not really Ross, are you. Well, whoever or whatever you are, take off that cloak so that I can see you!" Looking down in sorrowful shame, he obliged. Sam gasped as familiar details that he hadn't seen for two years were slowly revealed to him. Milk-white hands. A high double crest. Coral eyes. A pale ivory face adorned with twin streaks of deepest indigo. A tall, strong body clad in mottled dark green armor. Big glossy black wings like those of some sort of a bug. Yellow feet. Hatred flooded through him as he growled in a low, harsh voice, "Cell… My family died because of you…" Almost seeming to have read his mind, the newly revealed hybrid looked down at him sadly and then quietly knelt before him. Sam abruptly stepped forward and held the gun to Cell's head. "I should kill you for what you did to all those people," he snarled. Turning ever so slightly, Cell looked up at him for a long moment, a look of pure devastation written all over his pale face. "I meant what I said," Cell whispered softly, "I'm sorry…" Sam could see tears glistening in his great coral eyes as he spoke his apology. Then he turned away and just slowly bowed his head with a soft sigh of resignation. Sam was quite shocked at the sight of that. He had just threatened to murder Cell right on the spot…and he wasn't even fighting back? The hybrid was just going to let Sam kill him? Cell just cringed, closing his eyes and clenching his fists. He felt the cold metal of the gun's barrel pressing up against his temple and he shivered slightly at the feeling, his face twisted in a grimace combining anguish and stark terror with the expectation of severe pain and swift death. The air rang out with a harsh metallic click as Sam primed the gun to fire. Cell flinched with a frightened little gasp, then took a series of deep breaths. Sam just barely heard him whisper, "Jadeite…" That got his mind moving double time and he recalled all of the significant things he'd heard Cell say while the hybrid was still in the disguise of Ross. My family… My wife… Sam, it's…it's good… I'm so sorry… Sam, I can help you… He drove those thoughts from his mind, replacing them with memories of happy times with his wife and son. His finger tightened on the trigger. But then his image of himself standing with his wife and son changed to an image of Cell holding a small hybrid child in his arms and standing beside a beautiful female hybrid. He is…as I was… Sam felt the presence of the gun in his hand as though he was touching a maggot instead of a weapon. Am I going to become…as he was? The thought filled him with extreme disgust. But he had to see it through to the very end. Breathing a soft little prayer, he pulled the trigger.  
  
Cell had been certain that he was going to die shortly, so he gave a frightened scream when he heard the gun go off. Finding that he was still alive, even unhurt, he looked up at Sam with an expression of pure confusion. Sam smiled down at him and dropped the gun without so much as a word of explanation. Reaching out, he grabbed Cell's hand and helped him to stand up. Taken aback by the sudden act of kindness and the fact that his life had been spared, Cell stammered, "You…you let me live… Why?" Sam replied, "Two years ago, a man lost his family. I will not permit it to happen again." He turned away and then said, "Come along now, son. Let's get you home." As Cell began to follow him, he saw that Sam had fired the gun at the opposite wall instead of at him. He…he called me 'son'…even though he knows who I truly am. As they walked together, Sam said, "Now I know why I didn't find signs of an aircraft when I first found you. Aircraft was what naturally sprang to mind when you said that you'd been out flying."  
  
The two of them walked outside. Sam turned to face Cell and asked, "Do you feel strong enough to fly yet, son?" Cell said uncertainly, "I'll try." He leapt upward and spread his glossy black wings. Catching the wind and rising higher, he headed for the high clouds. He faltered in the air and nearly fell out of the sky, making Sam feel sick with worry, but he only wavered for a moment. Rapidly gaining back his confidence at flying, he soon soared in great circles high above the ground. Sam shared in Cell's wild exhilaration as the hybrid streaked through the clouds like a green comet. After a few minutes of that, he landed beside Sam and crowed happily, "Yes! My strength has finally returned!" Quickly becoming serious, he said, "Time for me to test my powers…and go home." Turning to face Sam, he said, "Thank you for everything…and for letting me live. I hope that, in restoring your sight and in saving your life, I have atoned for my sins." Sam laid a gentle hand on Cell's shoulder and replied, "All debts have been paid between us. You owe me nothing. Your family is waiting for you, son. Go. Go now." Cell turned around, brought a hand to his brow and concentrated. Then he vanished with a short rush of glittery light.   
  
Even before he entered the Pentagon, Cell received numerous double takes from Saiyans and fellow hybrids alike. He just ignored them, seeking Jadeite. As he searched, he began to wonder where everyone else was. He hadn't seen Shade or Mewtwo yet. Just then, a feminine voice cried his name and he was practically tackled to the floor. Squirming in the grasp of his unidentified assailant, Cell found himself looking into the face of Jadeite. She screamed at him, "God, where've you been? I went all over the West Coast looking for you! Are you okay? Are you okay, Cell?" He reassured her, "I'm just fine, Jadeite." Giving in to his emotions, he embraced her and said, "I have…missed you, my love." They both recovered their composure and stood up. Jadeite said, "I learned something new while you were gone. Watch this. I can change into any of my previous forms." Her body glowed for a moment. When the glow died, a short, thin human woman stood in Jadeite's place. "I can become Laura, who I was born as…" The glow came back again, and this time a lithe white-furred Super Saiyan stood there. "…Mewthree, who Mewtwo fell in love with…" The glow came a third time, and a red-eyed gray-furred monstrosity stood there. "…Ultra Mewthree, who initially arose to save your life…" The glow came one last time, and Jadeite was once again standing before Cell. "…I can just be me…" Her armor darkened to become a deep gray and Jade Falcon stood there. "…Or I can even be Jade Falcon if I so desire." Cell remarked, "You've gotten a heck of a lot stronger since I saw you last, Jadeite. And I'd like to say one more thing. Do you still possess the Staff of Ra?" She smiled and replied, "You had better believe I still have it!"   
  
They had no idea whatsoever that they were all about to become part of a major cosmic event. The stars of the galaxy had just aligned perfectly, enabling great energies to be channeled across the depths of the cosmos. The energies focused on the Earth and opened wide the gates of time for those who were something more than human. Everyone within the walls of the Pentagon, the Saiyans, Mews, hybrids and all the rest, were tossed into the past. All they knew was a flash of light, a clap of unnatural thunder and that was all.  



End file.
